The Legend of Spyro - Venture to Dragon Realms
by DestinyGD
Summary: Hikari, a 2nd-year student of Kyoto University, was summoned to Dragon Realms by the Dark Master. Will he be able to survive the raging war there, what kind of secrets will he unravel, and most importantly, can he be able to return to his home planet? Second language included, rated T. A prequel to the trilogy. Enjoy ;)
1. Prologue

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS**

**Prologue: The Gate**

Now, where should I start? How about a question, like, how long has it been since the greatest world war that almost pushed dragon-kind to the brink of extinction ended? Too straight forward, eh? Yeah, I'm really bad at indirect intro style. Besides, I don't think I can remember the exact time, the difference between the flows of time on Earth and Dragon Realms is but a pain in the butt to calculate. As the only human, well, I am no longer a normal human, who witnessed and participated in that war, I believe I have responsibility to retell the whole story of what had happened there. You wanna know what am I now? Well, that's the only spoiler for now. Let's get down to business, shall we?

First thing first, a self introduction is always a must. My full name is Hikari Minosuke (蓑助光 - Minosuke Hikari: the helping light, or the saving light, depending on how you want to understand it). I'm currently owning my grandpa's dojo as a martial art instructor with Iaido and Aikido being my main subjects. My grandpa recognized my potential in martial art since childhood and decided to train me in Japanese's traditional art. I do have interest in others such as Karate, Judo, etc. but I didn't learn them thoroughly.

My journey to Dragon Realms dates back to the first day of new year when I was a second-year student of Kyoto University. Before I graduated into that university, I used lived alone with my uncle and aunt since my parents had passed away due to a terrible epidemic, according to my uncle. I later on moved into my grandparents' house near the university so as to be convenient for me to go there.

At university, I didn't have many friends since I wasn't social. The only impression I left was that I had beaten many bullies. To be honest, I was allergic to them, so much that whoever they messed with, even with me, if I spotted them, they were done for. Though my true intention was to protect the defenseless, my method seemed backfired, creating an even bigger gap between me and them. I also got scolded by grandpa a lot because of this.

I always walked from home to university and vice versa on a small path, now filled with sakura flowers. It was almost spring now, the breeze tapped into my face its cool touch, wiping away the fatigue of schooling. The sun was setting down, it looked like a hot big red ball at the horizon, trying to spread its last rays before giving up its place for the night. I emptied my mind and enjoy the view.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called my name, dragged me back to reality. It was Harumi (春美, it means "spring's beauty), my classmate. She had silky long black hair worn in a ponytail, her gentle face always bore a bright smile. She also had an angelic voice that can mollify even the grumpiest man. Okay, maybe I praised her too much! But at a point, we both agree that Harumi's character and appearance resemble spring.

I still remembered meeting her in the canteen at recess. Although it was the first time I saw her, she immediately gave me a familiar feeling and I felt somewhat attached to her, which I found odd. _'Have I met her before?'_ While wondering, she initiatively came to me and greeted me with a bright smile. "Long time no see, Hikari! Do you remember me?" Not gonna lie, but that smile was damn familiar, I swear having seen it somewhere! But in such situation, I could do nothing but paralyzed on the spot.

On an occasion, she invited me to her house. It was huge! Her relatives, especially her mother, treated me as if I was a member of the family. I found it weird, but let's just pretend I know them, for the time being. Harumi led me to her room upstairs, a cute room painted in sky blue with a pink desk that had a small shelf attached. Next to it was a metal frame sliding window, to the opposite was a bed with some stuffed animals which was next to a wardrobe. There was also a bathroom attached. Neat!

Harumi pushed me to sit on her bed. I gotta say, wow, something big is about to happen. She came to the desk, took something, then returned, sat down next to me and showed the object. It was an enframed picture of two kids, a boy and a girl, which she held as if it was something so precious to her.

For an unknown reason, a light headache struck when I saw the picture. It was… us, when we were young. Then, I acted unconsciously, raising my hand to expose the palm facing at her. Harumi didn't understand at first, but she played along, pressing her palm against mine. It was then my body started to move on its own, making gestures in an order: a high-five, a fist bump, a phone-me, and lastly, a pinky swear. A promise, that we would be by each other's side no matter what.

I remembered! Back in those days, Harumi had been playing near her house when her parents had been away, a big dog had suddenly jumped out of nowhere and had started chasing her. She had run, but it hadn't been long til' her little legs gave up. I had happened to go to her house on that day. Witnessing the scene, I hadn't think much and had grabbed anything I could have found to fend it off her. The neighbors had soon come to help as soon as they had heard the ruckus, but I still had suffered a bit from it, Harumi had got herself some bruises. The scar on my left arm was the proof of my valiant childhood.

Looking at Harumi, her face lit brightly with a smile and some tears. That expression gave me a heart attack since how much I care for her. But now, she's here, after so many years. Fate had led us back together, and I thanked God for that. From then on, our relationship becomes more than just friendship. We shared many memories, new and old. I also learned that her father died in the same epidemic back then, the very reason her family moved away. Time flew, my feeling for her got stronger, but I wasn't brave enough to tell her. Since we lived in the same quarter, we usually walked home together. We chatted a lot whenever we meet.

"Thinking about something, Hikari?" she giggles.

"I'm just enjoying the beautiful view here", I replied with a smile.

"It's a bit soon to ask, have you had a thought about your future job?" she suddenly asked.

"Well, I don't have to worry much about that. I'll inherit my grandpa's dojo, I really enjoy teaching children martial art! Of course, he agreed!"

"Wow, that's awesome! I love working with children, too! That's why I'm going to be a teacher."

"Which domain are you going to teach?"

"Not gonna tell you!"

"Ah, come on!"

"Okay then, 3 guesses!"

"Is it Math?"

"Nope! Try again!"

"Hmm… History, I guess…"

"I may be good at it, but not in the list, _sensei_!" she grins playfully.

"Hah! I know," I snapped my fingers, "if there's something you're good at, that's gonna be music!"

"Bravo! You won, Hikari!" she cheered as she gave my back a painful slap. I have been her closest friend, how could I possibly don't know a single thing about her talent. Then, something came to my mind. Since passing in to university, we haven't actually had a period to hang out together.

"It's three days until New Year, what do you think if we go to the shrine and after that, we'll go on a picnic?"

"Really? I will ask for my parents' permission then."

"You guys intend to go without us? That's not fair!" a voice reached us from behind.

We turned around to see that Satori and Hidemitsu were right behind us. Those two were my best friends other than Kōmyō. Satori was a little bit short, but he was the biggest brain in the group. Hidemitsu, on the other hand, was quite chubby, he had a dream of being a sumo wrestler. I met them in a very unusual way: They got good points in class, which made some guys jealous. They planned to used violence to "teache those two some manners" in the warehouse after class, but unfortunately for them that I was scheduled to do the cleaning of our classroom. I went to the warehouse to fetch the tools and ran into them. Well, anyone can guess the result, those buffoons were not seen in class for the next few weeks since they had business with the doctor.

"I thought you were going to the café", Harumi said.

"No, the café is closed", replied Hidemitsu, looking like a sour loser, "The owner is having a one-week vacation at Ōsaka. I intended to call you guys over for a chat about going to the shrine first, but it seems Hikari just got the upper hand!"

"All right!" said Harumi, "Sensei, what's the plan then?"

"Sensei?"

"He's going to be a martial art instructor."

"Ah, yes, that fits him. Just hope that he doesn't trip like in the last fitness te- Ouch! What was that for?"

Satori's careless mouth gifted him a bump on his head. I made that kind of embarrassing accident which had got my ankle sprained because of my subjective thought. And of course, the whole class had had a refreshing burst of laughter. Even the professor didn't believe I could fail that simple long jump test.

"Ahem! Well, first, we'll perform the hatsumōde as usual, then we'll find a nice spot for a spring selfie and a picnic. After that, we'll go to spring fair. How does that sound?"

"Great! And about the trip, I'll tell you guys one magnificent spot where my family used to come when we get there!" Hidemitsu said with pride in his eyes.

"So, when will we go?"

"It's going to be extremely crowded those days, so around 4 o'clock should be okay." And then we parted ways.

"Harumi…" I spoke to her before I took the turn to my house "I also intend to go back to our hometown to pay respect to my parents. So, if you…"

"Anytime you want," she held my hand gently as she whispered, "just let me know. Our families can go there together. See you tomorrow, Hikari!"

And everything went smoothly afterward. Both their parents and my grandparents agreed about our little trip, and so everything was set.

Around 3:18 am, I was awakened by the doorbell, since I slept in the room downstairs. I went to open the door with the pajama still on. I was kinda surprised to see my friends standing in front of my house.

"Sorry, Hikari", Satori said with an embarrassing smile, "We had a change of plans last night but I forgot to tell you!"

"Let me guess, you were too hooked on beating the newly released game of this year, weren't you?"

Looking at his embarrassing face was enough to know that I hit the mark. "It's okay! Even if you called me, I couldn't be able to reply since I always set my phone to 'Do not disturb' mode when I sleep."

"We intended to move the rendezvous time sooner because most of the shrines were overcrowded yesterday", explained Harumi.

"Then, I'll go change my clothes. Wait here!"

We left the house and arrived at the torii ten minutes later. It was really cold, and to our surprise, the whole place wasn't as crowded as we had expected. After we had done offering our New Year's prayers, we went to buy some charms, but something happened that would change my life forever.

"Come on, guys!" Satori said excitedly, "We're going to take the bus to get there! Hurry up or you'll miss it!"

"Okay!" we said in unison.

As we were going downstairs, a loud thunderclap from behind almost beat the heart out of our chests. We turned around to see a small fog ball appeared at the middle of the torii. It generated sparks and strong wind and started to grow bigger. The crowd went panic, running away from the strange entity. We, too, tried to run away from it as fast as possible, but Harumi suddenly tripped at the last staircase and got her ankle sprained. I had to carry her while Hidemitsu and Satori supporting me.

The wind at first blew wildly, then its current changed, dragging everything toward the fog ball now has grown into a black hole of sort. We were really in a bad situation now, being the nearest to the black hole with Harumi's injury and the strong current, we had to cling onto a trunk nearby to wait for help. It was really dangerous since there were flying objects around us. While struggling to help Harumi, my hand slipped from the bark. I was blown to the hole's direction, but managed to grabbed on to a chain from the fence in front of the torii. At the moment I thought I was going to make it, a frying pan flew at me and hit me in the head. I lost consciousness and fell into the black portal. Everything that I remembered was the voice of my beloved friends shouting my name as the world spiraled into darkness.


	2. Chapter 1

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALM**

**Chapter 1: New Horizon**

"Call the chief! He must see this…"

"That portal, I have never seen anything like this before!"

"Send the messenger to the Head Council and have them informed about this!"

"His head's bleeding, go get a medic, quickly!"

"Wait! He looks similar to them! Could he be…"

…

'_騒々しい、暗い__…__ここはどこ？__' __(Sōzōshī__, kurai__… Koko wa doko? – It's noisy and dark … Where am I?)_

Everything I saw was just complete darkness, yet I heard so many voices. When I paid close attention, I realized it was English. I was kind of doubting at first, but yes, it was English. Then, I had a feeling like my wrists were rubbing against something. I didn't have to wonder for long, suddenly, a cold and wet feeling ran through my face and into my eyes. I slowly regained consciousness and opened my eyes to see. I first felt a slight headache and drops of water rolled down my cheek. I saw three vague figures standing in front of me, one of them was holding a bucket. I tried to stand up, but I couldn't since my arms were tied into a wooden pole behind my back. The sunlight brought me back to my scene, I held a gasp as I saw three lynx-liked men, or so I thought.

The middle one seemed to be the oldest, my guess based on the length of his brows and beard. Despite those details, he still looked strong and energetic, I could tell by his eyes, the old would never have eyes that sharp. The guy standing next to his left side carried a lance while the opposite one had a sword on his waist. I thought I would call them "lancer" and "swordsman" for the time being.

Behind those three, there were more of them, about twenty, nearly half of them were children, both of them looked at me with curious feline eyes. They wore short brownish robe and pants, their fur colourvaried from orange to pale azure. There were several huts and cabins here and there, though not very organised. There were also wooden paling fences, which kind of reminded me of a village.

"Chief Fagus," the guy holding the bucket asked "what do you think of him?"

"I'd like to check him right away myself!" said the middle one.

He stepped towards me and started to examine me the way an animal did, which gave me goosebumps. After having sniffed, touched and observed, he stood up, seemed satisfied.

"How intriguing" he said, "he does have similar characteristics as they do. We'll keep him here and wait for the Council to decide this."

"Why don't we just get rid of him, chief? It's not worth keeping him!"

"Then what do think of the portal? Have you any idea what it was?"

The guard remained silent.

"All right, stranger", he said to me, "If you can talk, tell me your name and what species you are."

"I'm Hikari Minosuke, I'm a human" I tried to answer in their tongue. Luckily, I pronounced quite well.

"Hikari… and 'human'… I think heard this somewhere…"

He was about to continue when a series of tocsin resounded in the whole area, one after another.

"Dreadwings! There are six of them, all are carrying containers!"

"Those who cannot fight get to the shelter! The rest of you follow me!"

"What about him, chief?"

"Bring him with you!"

The chief left almost immediately after saying. They shrugged at each other, released me from the pole and led me through the back door and joined the fleeing villagers, still kept my arms tied. Not far away there was a big tree near the mountain base, and there was a trapdoor at the base of the tree. The guards waited for their people to get in first, then we entered and the door shut behind us.

It was dark, I stripped several times on the stone staircases. Finally, we reached the end of the tunnel and entered a wide hall supported with stone columns. On each column hung 4 lamps, there was even a small fountain here. Upon seeing me, the villagers started whispering, seemed to be unpleasant with my appearance. The guards let me sit between them, the atmosphere here was getting tenser by the second. Suddenly, a loud bang came from the dark corridor, the only entrance of this place. Everyone held their breath, staring at the entrance as the noise resounded wave by wave.

"How did they found us?" said the lancer, "And reinforcement hasn't come yet."

"You know what to do!" the other one replied, pointing at me, and they both nodded.

I didn't know what they meant by that, but I didn't have to wonder for long. The loudest clash stated that the door had been breached. The villagers, without a word, started to move to the furthest end of the room, away from the door and huddled together there. We could hear heavy footsteps, and when the intruders were near, the lancer grabbed me from behind andstepped forth with the swordsman.

The intruders came into our vision, I was kinda shocked to see their appearance. Ten baboons, one big, nine smalls. They only wore a loin-cloth with a piece of bone to keep it still. The big one also wore a leather garment on its back, it carried a mace and a wooden shield. Their characteristics weren't different much from those I knew, except their violet fur color and surprisingly thin limbs, which reminded me of trolls in occidental fantasy. That wasn't all, behind them crawled out a giant dark violet bat-liked beast with mane, whose size I estimated was about that of a tiger.

They stood blocking the only way out, the big one jerked its chin up and spoke with a thick tone: "Ur Master demands ye demise, so we've been hiding around to monitor your hideout! It's a pity since this is quite an easy job, so at least I'll let my henchmen have some fun before ending ye all here!"

"I don't think so!" the swordsman replied "If you take another step, your comrade will pay for it!"

He signaled the lancer to bring me up front and placed the sword's edge near my throat. So, they thought of me as one of them and used me as a bargain chip, very clever… The intruders stood speechlessly for a while, and to our surprise, they bursted into laughter: "Our comrade? Him!? Boy, you really know how to joke! I like you already!"

He pointed at us and ordered his men: "Just take care of them, then do whatever ye want with the rest!" Then he returned next to the bat and enjoyed the show.

The henchmen lunged at us. Realized that I had no value in this, the lynx-men threw me aside and engaged. The lynx-men had speed, height, and advantageous weapons like lance and sword, while the baboons were short, quick and outnumbered them. The baboons' tactic was obvious, feline relatives weren't good in long fight, so they tried to wear them out first before dealing the finishing blow.

Lying on the ground as the fiery battle took place just several footsteps from me, I tried to crawl away from it. At that moment, my ears caught a familiar sound, I didn't know why it was familiar. The sobbing of a kid, calling for his mother: "Mom, I'm scared…", "It'll be alright, dear." Here and there, I heard clearer and clearer, whimpers, sobs, laments… They were hopelessly awaiting the inevitable fate to come. At that moment, I felt a jolt in my head, more precisely, an urge to fight, fight to survive, surviveto… protect. I remembered that those were what I had been told. When? I didn't know, and I didn't care. Right now, it was fight or die. Unable to use my arms, I still got my legs, I didn't learn martial art for nothing.

With great efforts, I tried to stand up, my head ached a bit, that flying pan must have hit me too hard. Suddenly, I heard a cry, a baboon had already plunged its dagger to the back shoulder of the swordsman lynx, forced him to knee down. His fellow lancer found a chance and impaled the lance through its body, knocked it off his enemies form a circle around them, ready to end the futile resistance.

To make things worse, a cub darted out from the crowd, shouting: "Father!" A baboon noticed him, it left its formation and leapt at the kid with its sharp claws. They weren't far from me, so, before it could harm the kid, I had already sprung into action. I quickly delivered a roundhouse kick and altered its course, caused it to lie flat on the ground.

That was a close call, and as I expected, my action drew their attention. I stood between the cub, still sitting there trembling as he just escaped death in a hair's breadth and the fighting group. This brought back memories, back in the day when I was a first-year student. One afternoon, my classmate got bullied at a corner of a building, and I was just passing by. That guy had always tried to make fun of me in class, quite an eyesore whenever I saw his face. But there was one thing I hate even more: bullies. No need to say much, I totally wrecked them. How nostalgic, but back to reality, this wasn't any fight I have involved nor experienced before, this was a fight at the cost of my life.

"心配しないで。ここを任せろ!" (Shinpai shinai de. Koko o makasero! – Don't worry, I'll take it from here!) I spoke to the kid.

I didn't expect him to understand, but he nodded and ran back to the crowd.

"Hmm, interesting", said their leader, "Now this is where the fun begins! Boys! Get him!"

Two of them and the one I kicked earlier approached me while the rest kept the lynxes at bay. I smirked as I confronted them. We stood facing each other, waiting for a moment to strike. I calculated the possible outcomes. Suddenly, I realized an opening. The injured one was weak, yet it stood far from the other two. Calculation completed.

The first one to strike won. I immediately sprinted through them and aimed for the injured one. With its height only a half compared to me, I could easily land a knee thrust directly to its chin, knocked it out cold. The other started attacking me, leaping around trying to distract me to find an open though their attacks lacked cooperation. I waited for a chance as I dodged and parried their attacks using my legs. Everyone was like holding their breath watching us fight.

One of them leapt at me but missed, the other one tried to do the same. As it was in midair, I spun and performed a tornado kick, sent it flying at the guards' direction and knocked down its comrade, thus opened a chance for retaliation. No sooner than I landed had the previous one come back to strike me with its dagger. Though I lost balance a bit due my inability to use my arms, I managed to pull back my leg to evade the dagger. I used the momentum to successfully land a back kick, pushing and slamming the back of its head against a pillar, thus concluded my battle. Didn't let time go to waste, I immediately came to the guards' aid. Together, we put the fight to an end with style.

Though witnessed the defeat of his subordinates, the leader's content look instead of a mournful or angry one really gave me the creeps even although I had somehow predicted that when he didn't join the fight.

"That was just the beginning!" it said with a smile toward me "Now, the main show!" It whistled at the bat, the creature slowly crawled to us with bearing fangs. It curled in order to launch a n attack, but suddenly stopped halfway. It raised the head, sniffed the air and growled at the entrance.

"They're here sooner than expected." the baboon mumbled, probably disappointed "I'll let you off the hook for now, chosen one. So long!"

It hopped on the bat, took out a bar and lit the filament.

"Dynamite!" yelled a guard.

Wait, that technology even existed here? With a grin, he threw the dynamite at our direction and disappeared into the dark corridor with the bat. Before it hit the ground, I had been fast enough to kick it away and ran back. The dynamite exploded behind me, I fell on ground but didn't suffered any injuries despite being the nearest to the explosion. I turned back and saw a large cloud of black smoke, so it was a smoke bomb, otherwise I was as sure as dead. I sat up, leaned myself on a pillar and let my dizzy head rest.

The exit was wide open, if possible, I could escape with ease. But thinking of the dangers out there, I hesitated. I asked myself whether this was a nightmare or a joke of fate, I wished it had been a nightmare so that I could wake up at any time. Yeah, maybe I imagined things, must've been the after effect of the pan. I chuckled at myself when thinking about it. But everything so far had proven otherwise, the itchy wrists were a particular example. Were Kōmyō and the others safe? Could there be any chance they were brought here, too? If so, where could they be? If not…

Suddenly, we heard rustlers echoed from the entrance. What would come next? Footsteps could be heard, and was getting louder, like they were in a hurry. A voice broke the tense silence: "Is everyone still alive?"

"It's chief Fagus!" cried the swordsman, "We're all fine!"

The chief came into sight, his expression full of both worries and relieves, behind him were some other warriors. He saw me sitting there, eyes half-closed. He ordered the warriors to bring me out. The air outside sure was reliving, and the light had softened a bit, it was afternoon already? They let me sit under the tree there. The villagers started to exit the basement. They all looked worried, probably about their family members. Murmurs kept on pouring into my ears, I could only shut my eyes tight and tried to ignore them. But then, a small, soft paw placed on my cheek, snapped me out of my thoughts. It was the kid. He came without me knowing, his brownish eyes wide opened as if they wanted to remember the lines of my face. A graceful smile bloomed on his face: "Th-thank you... for saving my father."

I nodded: "You're welcome!"

"Can I ask you something?" he said after a short hesitation.

"What is it?"

He put his mouth close to my ear and whispered: "Can you teach me those moves, please?"

His innocent request almost forced a chuckle out of me. But looking at his pleading look, I started losing will. _'__くそ、そんな俺を見ないで！__(kuso, sonna ore o minaide! - Damn, don't look at me like that!)__'_ I thought, try to avoid those eyes. The kid just stood there, waiting for my answer. In the end, I gave in with a sigh: "Alright, but only after we get out of this mess!"

"Thank you, I'll wait until then!" and he ran to his mother.

What did I just do, made a promise that might never realize? How guilty I was. I felt a slight pain on my head. It was the chief, he was taking off the bandage on my head, of whose existence I then realized. As soon as the bandage was taken off, my head ached a little, but it was comfortable afterwards. They brought some water to wash my wound.

"Someone must've hit you very hard on the head" he said.

"This?" I pointed at the bump on my head, "大丈夫 (daijōbu – It's fine), it's just a little bit dizzy."

"That's what I have been concerning…" he paused a bit "I heard everything, Why did you help us?"

"Because it was the right thing to do." I answered without any hesitation.

"Alright," he nodded "I have to admit, me and my village are in debt to you. Thank you for looking after our back."

"It was nothing!"

"No, I mean it! By the way, someone wants to see you. But first, I'll release you, as a token of gratitude."

He ordered his guards to untie me. I rubbed my itchy wrists with several red marks on them, feeling good to be entered the village. It was a terrible site, none of the buildings were in one piece, black smoke formed into pillars rose and curled up in the sky. From a corner, I saw them carrying their injured comrades and those who had died to the open in front of the biggest cabin at the center of the village. I found this site had something familiar. I didn't know why, but it kinda gave my spine a chill.

"Well, he IS a human!"

A feminine voice spoke right behind me. I turned around and saw a big long pointy face with caramel eyes staring at me. Startled, I took a few steps back but lost balance and fell. That was when I got a chance to take a full view of the creature.

"D-d-dragon?" I stuttered.

Yes, a dragon. I estimated that she had to be twice my height, or maybe a little bit less, probably a medium-size dragon. She had sky blue scales, pale yellow wing membranes and underbelly, two long ivory horns which looked like thin branches of a dead tree, her tail had three diagonal crystal-liked spikes at the end. Her body was quite slim, but elegant. When she breathed, a thin, cool fog streamed out from her nostrils. Could this be the reason why I felt a cold on my back since she stood behind me, or was it from the creepy feeling I got earlier? Fagus seemed surprised: "You know her species?"

"Oh, you don't have to be so surprised like that!" she giggled "Our ancestors had coexisted with them for quite a long time before we left their realm."

Hearing that both gave me and the chief the shock. If dragons did coexist with humans, there had to be documents or evidences about their existence, but all we had was fantasies and fairytales. Dragons were inspirations and fabrications of human's imagination. The only "dragon" ever recorded in documents was the Komodo dragon.

"I know you're confusing." said the dragon "But right now, we should be more concerned about you. Do you remember how you got here?"

Before I could say athing, a smaller dragon approached us: "Miss Glaciah, I've returned from the scouting. None of them were spotted."

"Good job, Dash. Now, you can go help the villagers."

The young dragon with brilliant bright yellow scales and violet horns which sprouted backward in a zigzag form, violet underbelly and claws. He had a line of fin-like spikes which only stopped at the end of the nape and was about my height. He stared at me for a few seconds. Suddenly, he cheered excitedly and pinched my cheek: "Wow! A real human! He's so soft! I thought you were scary at first!"

"痛あぁぁぁい！おい！話せえ！ (Itaaaai! Oi! Hanasee! - Ouuch! Hey! Let go!)"

"Huh!? What are you saying?"

"Careful, Dash! He's injured!" said Fagus.

I couldn't take it any longer, he was going to tear my checks apart. I grabbed his wrist and started twisting, drove him lying on the ground with a thud. This time, it was his turn to cry, they had to separate us and held me still.

"So much for the injured…" Dash said as he got up.

"Just whose fault do you think it was, pulling my cheeks like that!?" I retorted.

"Oh, sorry. I just couldn't hold myself. It's my first time seeing a real human."

"Dash," Glaciah interrupted "I'm interrogating him."

"Yes, ma'am!" he turned around and went to aid with the injured, not without glancing at me one last time.

After he had gone, she asked me to continue, I told her all I knew. She seemed unease: "If what you said was true, then you might not get any chance to return."

'_そんなこと__!' __(Sonna koto! –It can't be!)_ I whispered to myself. "But there has to be a way!"

"I'm sorry. Until we get back to the city, I can't do anything." She shook her head.

"Then," I asked one last question "do you know who can open it?"

"Even if I know, I won't allow you to get anywhere close to him! Please watch over him for me. I need to go over there for a bit." and she walked away.

I guessed wildly that she had someone in her mind, or a hypothesis about that 'him'. I sat down, just didn't want to believe what I'd heard. A moment later, I lifted my head and saw the swordsman from earlier. He came saying that he would look after me and that the guys watching me should see the chief. He gave me a gourd: "Here, you might be thirsty." I thanked him and started drinking. The fresh water cool and moistened my dried throat like rain fell on arid land.

"I heard you promised to teach my son your moves."

"Well, I couldn't refuse." I faintly grinned.

"You shouldn't promise something you couldn't do. Anyway, my name is Leo. I owe you my family's safety. I don't know how to repay you for this, but I'll let you into something." he looked around as if to make sure nobody was hearing us "They will hold anassembly to decide what to do with you. I wish I could help, but it's beyond my authority."

That didn't seem to bode well for me. But, to be honest, that news didn't bother me much. I had been treated as a prisoner from the beginning anyway. As long as I didn't plan anything stupid, I didn't have to worry. Despite that optimistic thought, I couldn't rid myself of this nervous feeling.

I then realized something, a chance just appeared right in front of me, how convenient. I started asking him about where we were, what was going on here and such. A good idea, but not without the risk of being rejected. Luck showed its favor to me when Leo told me briefly about the situation. His species was called the cheetahs of the Valley of Avalar, one of the most productive and abundant areas around. The inhabitants here had had a great relationship with the dragons for a long time. Now, they were at war with an army of apes, the baboons I saw earlier, called the Dark Army, led by a ferocious fighter, Gaul, known as King of the Apes. They followed orders from the Dark Master: to dominate the world. I thanked him, then he generously led me around the village. So, what I thought was a tribal conflict at first turned out to be a global-scaled war. I remembered that ape calling me "chosen one". Chosen for what, and why me? With the head full of thoughts, we bumped into Fagus, Glaciah and Dash.

"Looks like you were having a good sightseeing, eh, Hikari?" Fagus chuckled.

I nodded. He allowed the swordsman to dismiss, then he told me that he would escort me with Glaciah to Warfang, the Dragon City. It took us ten minutes to pack things up. I thought we were going to take a flight, but the chief led us to the base of mountain. We arrived at a big boulder with a paw print carved on it. There were flagstones imbedded around it.

Fagus came and press one of boulder shook a bit, then it rolled, revealed a tunnel.

"I will fly back to Warfang to prepare for your arrival." said Glaciah "I appoint you, Dash, to look after him."

"Yes, ma'am!" he replied with enthusiasm.

Glaciah expanded her wings, with several flaps, she launched into the sky.

Fagus whispered to me: "Don't do anything funny unless you want to be zapped by him!"

"Zapped? Sounds like electricity?"

"Correct! You're pretty clever!"

"How did know?"

"Just look at the color of their scales!"

And so, I learned another interesting information: dragons have many elements other than fire. The scales' colors indicated their elements. Dash's scales were yellow, his element was electricity. Glaciah's scales were sky blue, she also had chilling breath so she must be an ice dragon.

"Come! Let us make haste!" Fagus urged us.

We entered the tunnel, then the boulder rolled back to its place. A loud clack echoed throughout the tunnel showed us that the entrance was blocked, and again I found myself in the dark. To my surprise, the whole place started to light up, not by auto-lit torches like those in dungeons on TV shows and games, but by crystals. Yes, bunches of crystals on the ceiling, on the wall, with all kinds of colors. For the first time in my life I have ever witnessed such magnificent scene. If something like this were to exist in my world, I was sure the scientists would make the best out of them, life could be even more improved. Bioluminescent crystal, that was what I would call them. Dash threw his chest out: "Bet you haven't seen one like this, huh?"

"すごいですね！ (Sugoidesu ne! – Amazing!)"

"Um… I guess that's a compliment."

"ああ、ごめん！ (Aa, gomen! – Ah, sorry!) It's my native language! It means 'amazing'."

"Well, it is! The beauty of magic, a gift from our ancestors! You'll see more when we get to the city!"

"I don't think I am that honorable!"

"Ahem!" Fagus cut in "Save the chitchat, boys! It's a long way from here despite this passage being a shortcut. I suggest we take the waterway."

"Good idea!" said Dash.

About ten minutes walking, we came across an arch led to a stairway which went lower underground. We took this path and at the last staircase, we were on the bank of a subterranean river. There were less crystals here, but they still provided enough light for us. There was a rafttied onto a mass of stalagmites.

As Fagus was untying the rope, something caught my attention. There was a stalagmite next to where I was standing. At its base sprouted two crystal masses: one was as black as onyx, it generated weak silver light; the other one was dull grey and completely opaque so it didn't generate any light. Curious, I reached my hand and touched it. Suddenly, a masculine voice echoed loudly in my head, saying: "The light that guides light". Several cracks started to appear and ran down from the tips of the mass, it released many small light blobs which resembled fireflies. When I took a closer look, they were light spheres. One by one, they circled around me and at one moment, they both rose up high above, huddled around, then dispersed like a fireworks display that lit up the area and disappeared. I was really impressed with the lightshow, I glanced at the crystal and realized it had changed its color, glowing bright with a purple light.

"すごい…これが魔法だ！ (Kore ga mahō da! – So this is magic!)"

Fagus and Dash stood like being made of stone with their jaw dropping. I didn't understand their reaction, as if they haven't seen anything like this before.

"どうしたの？ (Dōshita no? – What's wrong?)"

"Hikari…" Dash said slowly "You touched the crystal, didn't you?"

I nodded in return. Dash approached the purple crystal, he grabbed one of its branches and snapped it from the mass. He asked Fagus to keep the shard in his cape in order not to scratch it, then we got onto the raft and set off for Warfang. Fagus steered while I and Dash get some rest. Finally, I can let my heavy head rest, but stream of thoughts flooded in as I close my eyes made me unable to sleep well.

We drifted through the curves of this subterranean river, the number of crystals slowly decreased. Another thought came into my head, which once again triggered my brain. Of all the colors, I haven't seen any crystal mass with purple tone until now, and it appeared in an unnatural way. About the voice I heard earlier, its logic was quite bizarre. How could light guide light when they were all light? That was funny, it really was. I took a peek on Dash, just like me, he was trying to take a nap. He turned and caught eyes with me. I intended to ask him about what had just happened but he turned away. I glanced at Fagus, he just shrugged.

We were near the exit, I could feel the slight smell of trees and flowers out raft exited the mountain and immediately joined the main river. The twilight sky was so magnificent, fluffy clouds floated lazily above us, the green grasses bath in the final rays while the critters raced through them to find their home. Far away to the horizon, the sun had already set, its dimming light was like setting the clouds on fire. Such panorama could ease even the most stirring soul. It should be about 5:30 I felt the eyelids became heavy. At least, I could take a nap to ease my mind for upcoming events.

"Here we are! Warfang City!" said Fagus.

I sat up, wondering how long I have fallen asleep. The sky had turned violet, yet I could still see the soft light on the horizon. In front of us, there was a wall. It was so long I couldn't estimate it, I could only imagine it as a mini Great Wall. As the sky got darker, the watchtowers started to light up a big fire on their drifted closer and closer. A giant archway with two massive gates blocked the entrance. As I said, the gates only blocked the entrance, their lower part beneath the surface was made of bars. On each gate, there was a golden alto-relievio of a sitting dragon on side view with a fore paw raised up and leveled with the chest, they faced each other symmetrically, a hugedisc placed between the gates indicated a lock. There were also two watchtowers on each riverside, they were ornamented with vine-liked patterns.

When we got close enough, something lit up on the tower to our left and moved like signaling us to get to the left, Fagus followed the moving light and steered the raft to the riverbank. As I just set my foot onto the land, a bunch of shining spearhead pointed at my face. I jumped back, readied to deal with whatever thrown at me, but Fagus and Dash had already stood in between.

"Oh, it's Dash! Lower your weapons, guys!"

"Mr. Logan," said Dash "I and chief Fagus of the Savannian are here to escort a human by Miss Glaciah's order!"

"So the report was true. May I see him?"

Torches were lit, I could see them clearly now. Those who pointed their spears at me were moles. There was no doubt, their dark brownish velvety fur, big forepaws, long conical snout with two protruding upper central incisors and tiny nostrils, they used goggles to aid their poor vision, which was quite fascinating, and they were just a little higher than my knee. They wore blackmetallic plateswith leather cushions, a simple medieval armor set.

After the formality was done, we went inside the watchtower to enter the city. I wondered, what could possibly be waiting for me behind this wall. My heart raced with both anxiety and enthusiasm as we got pass the entrance led to Warfang.


	3. Chapter 2

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS**

**Chapter 2: Memories recall**

The first impression I had was, to be honest, shock. What I once imagined a city turned out to be ruins, no more no less. Still, some of its inhabitants didn't seem to move away anytime soon. They made shanty makeshift shelters, huts or tents out of the buildings' were the dragons, moles, cheetahs, and other species as well. According to Fagus' words, Warfang was the Dragon City, so I quickly concluded that the other species here were refugees.

Due to the fact that they were at war, several groups of guards were equipment was quite poor: they mostly used staffs or daggers, some had better arms like short swords or lances… Some of those could be easily recognized as homemade. No need to say much, they were self-governed army. Here and there, I spotted some dragons with shiny armor, a crest of a shield with a dragon head encircled in a wreath embossed onto the chest plate. These guys must be royal guards. They formed into teams of two, working with the refugees here.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes since I felt awfully tired. When opened my eyes, I saw my village, devastated and desolate. I was dumbfounded as I remembered the Fukushima incident, this setting was the aftermath of the most catastrophic earthquake ever recorded in mankind's history. Before any thought had a chance to flow into my head, a pointy spearhead pricked onto my butt, snapped me out of the hallucination.

"What's wrong with you, man? Keep moving!"

I just frowned and kept going, trying to hold back a growl.

"You okay, Hikari?" asked Fagus.

"うん… (un – yeah)"I nodded slightly.

As our group moved deeper into the city, the site of ruins gradually replaced with buildings, and the streets were a bit procession started to move into a formation, the moles surrounded me, mainly the front and both flanks, the rear was left for Dash and Fagus to guard.

The first thing I noticed was the lighting system, which didn't operate on electricity, but on the bioluminescent crystalslike those in the light-posts, houses, and even the lanterns hung on the waist of the guards. This gave the city a sparkling and dazzling beauty.

The buildings were made of sandstone, some of which had their doors and windows inlaid with marble stone tiles. Some others looked fancier with gold inlay engravings of raptors, plants, and dragons. I deduced things that way because I had read about the sandstone, that it was quite easy to carve, weathering resistance and was a popular construction material since ancient times.

The buildings could be easily divided into three main categories. The first category consisted of parallelepiped structures. Why? It was easy to figure out, the roof was completely flat, and all the four walls were rectangles. They ranged from one story to three stories and had no balcony or a small one at the center of the facade.

The second category was the tower, cylindrical structures with a dome made of either stone or tiles with shade of jade, they were usually built into groups or stood alone. These could be considered as the skyscrapers of this city.

And finally, the mixed category, which had the base of a two-story category one and the roof of either a dome or a short version of category two. These buildings could have up to three domes or towers, they were also the most common construction in the city.

The road was paved with flagstone along the center and stone in plaster on both sides. Walking on the road of Warfang could make one feel like taking a stroll in the ancient city of Rome. There was also a small detail that I found interesting, that was the dragon statues. These statues and sculptures were all made of gold, which could tell how prosperous the city was, and could be seen in almost every corner of the city: in front of the house, on the roofs, the bridges… coming from all sizes.

Despite all the fantastic and mesmerizing details, I could not set my soul at ease. There were two reasons for this: one, I was about to face those who had the power to decide my fate, and that moment was drawing near; second, the whispers.

Yes, once again, I was targeted by the whispers and murmurs, this time they were mainly from the dragons. As we walked pass them, they seized all the activity and looked at us, and obviously, at me, a human. This was even worse than in the Avalar Valley since those sound followed me each and every step. Some young dragons snuck behind the procession, some climbed to higher places, some tried to push and jostle to get to the front of the crowd in order to have a good view of the creature who once coexisted with their ancestors.

Before we realized, we had been surrounded by the curious crowd. The moles, Fagus and Dash had a hard time protecting me while trying to squeeze our way out. Amidst the chaos, I could sense disgust, despise in some of the words I heard and also in their eyes, as if they were looking at a criminal. This left me to wonder, what had the human done that made the dragons so hostile toward me.

The guards patrolling the area here had to interfere and to keep the distance between our group and the citizens. I felt like my head was going to explode, never have I been this stressful before. Summing up today's events, I woke up early in the morning, got hit in the head by a blasted flying pan, fell into an unknown world, fought a mortal combat and later on found out that I just got myself involved in a global-scale war, now, here I was, dragged into a city just to be stuck in a crowd and assaulted by a cruel barrage of sound. Could this day get any worse?

All of a sudden, the crowd became quite quiet and started to disperse. I didn't understand what was going on until I saw Glaciah marching towards us with several guards.

"Everyone," she raised her voice "please return to your home. The royal guards will hereby place this human in our custody."

Without a word, the citizens left us alone and head back to their home, not without shooting some final glances at me. I gave a sigh of relief, I really owed her a thank.

Glaciah stepped forth: "Does any one of you get hurt?"

"We're still in one piece, General Glaciah!" said Logan with a humorous tone "I didn't know the grudge between your kind with this kid could be this horrible!"

Glaciah was the general, no wonder why the citizens listened to her without any question. Quite a powerful figure, she was.

"Well, now you know it!" she giggled, then she shifted sight to me "How was your little trip, young man?"

"It was terrible!" I answered coldly, I had a feeling like she was trying to mock me "Now I just wanna crash somewhere and have a deep sleep!"

"Oh, I thought that you would enjoy the view here!"

'_ふざけるな__! (Fuzakeru na – You gotta be kidding)'_I was tired to death, I wasn't in any mood for sightseeing, and the ruckus earlier just worsened things a lot. I decided to stay quiet till the rest of our journey. The sooner this ended, the better for me.

There was a bridge ahead, it had two dragon pedestals on either end and was paved entirely with colorful flagstones. As we were at the middle of the bridge, Dash, who had been unusually quiet ever since our departure using the waterway, suddenly rushed up front and suggested a personal talk with his superior. Glaciah agreed and told the group to stay on the spot while the two went to the other end of the bridge and started discussing.

After five minutes or so, they returned. To our surprise, Glaciah's countenance had changed to nervousness.

"Fagus," she demanded "let me have a look at the crystal."

Fagus unwrapped the crystal and gave it to her. Her eyes wide opened as she took the crystal and scrutinized it. The guards seemed to be dumbfounded as well when they saw the purple crystal glowing gently in Glaciah's paw.

"Your name is Hikari, correct?" she lowered her voice. I found it strange, on our first encounter, shedidn't even glance at me during the entire conversation, she even tried to humiliate me not long ago. But now, she decided to call me by my name. Could that crystal be the cause?

"Yes?"

"What I'm going to tell you will be rather disturbing, but I'll be honest with you." She paused a bit, then she looked into my eyes "You were summoned here on purpose, that means you have not even the slightest chance to return to your home world."

"何!? (Nani – What) 嘘だ! (Uso da – You're lying)"

I was totally disheartened to hear such a thing. I couldn't take it any longer, I was now like a volcano awoke from its slumber, ready to pour out everything it had been suppressing inside.

"I'm not here just to hear that bullshit from you, missy! I'm definitely sure, if there's a way to summon me here, there IS a way to go back, no matter how you try to deny it! If you can't explain why I can't go back, nor tell the name of the bastard who messed up my life, then at least you better tell me what that damn crystal is conveying!"

"You dare speak that way to the general?" a mole stepped up and pointed his spear at me. With a quick motion, he realized his spear was flying and fell into the water. All it took was a reverse spin kick.

"Out of the way, shorty!" I pressed each word through my teeth, which caused him to step back, shivering.

The moles quickly fell back and formed an attack formation, the guards entered offensive stance, but Glaciah made a halt gesture.

"I know you're pissed, Hikari." She continued as everyone had settled down "Believe me, you're in no better circumstances than we already were. I'll tell you about the shard along the way. The Council willhear your story, then they will tell you what you want to know. We never judge anyone before hearing their story and having found all the necessary evidences."

Hearing that pleased me a bit, at least I knew there was someone who would give me what I needed. Since we wasted too much time on the commotion and our little argument, we hurry ourselves through the streets. This time, our formation changed: the moles took the front, Glaciah on my right, Dash and Fagus on the left, the guards took the rear. The citizens stayed in their houses, observing us through their windows and balconies.

"The crystal cluster you saw in the cave" she started explaining "was called Prophet Gems. Whenever we face a crisis, our ancestors will find a person whom they deemed worthy and make a dull grey cluster grow at a place where their candidate can see. When they touch the crystal, it will send them a message and the cluster will turn bright. I forgot to ask, what is the content of your message?"

"'The light that guides light'. Can you deduce something out of this?"

"As expected, their message usually hides something that they want their candidate to solve. That way, the chosen one will understand the reason why they were chosen. And one more thing, did you receive the mark?"

"What mark?"

"Check the hand that you used to touch the crystal."

I opened my right hand, there was nothing in my palm. But when I flipped to the back, right there, on the dorsum of my hand, there was a circle, inside it was a crescent embracing a star.

Glaciah seemed pleased: "Now, you're officially the chosen one. But I'm still surprise of how the Dark Master found out about you being chosen."

I remembered what the ape had said before taking its leave like it had already known about me, I didn't know whether this was a coincidence or fate. The Chosen One, huh? How honorable! But that was way too much for me to bear.

I was so deep in thoughts that I didn't realize we were going up on a wide and long stone staircase. On the top situated a rectangular building with a big dome at the center. The facade had a porch and was supported by many columns whose design resembled that of Ancient Greek architecture. The floor of the building had two projecting points used as pedestals for two massive dragon statues, which divided the stairway into three paths before reaching the building. It had a large wooden double door, a relief carving of a tree could be seen in the middle.

Our group stopped inside the porch, the moles moved aside to make way for Glaciah. She knocked the door three times, and with a loud metallic clack, the doors jerked into motion, opened to the inside. The moles and the guards both saluted as the general, her subordinate, Fagus, and I stepped inside and the door shut tight behind us.

We were inside a white hallway with polished marble stone floor, at the other end was another double door. The door automatically opened as we got near. I saw a court room with many wooden chairs arranged into elevating rows. At the opposite side of the room, sit a judge behind a bench. I got confused, I was in the dragons' world, why there was human here? That wasn't all, I saw my uncle and a chubby lady and… a kid. When I looked closely at him, he turned his head around and looked at me. I became speechless, drops of coldsweat rolled down my kid… was my younger self.

"Hikari… Hikari? HIKARI!"

I startled, I felt my heart beating frantically, like a beast trying to break free from its cage, and my breathe was heavy. The other three stared at me worriedly.

"You don't look so well, Hikari." Dash said.

"He must've been too tired." Added Fagus "Maybe we should postpone until another time."

"まだ続けは出来る (Madatsudzuke wa dekiru – I can still continue)!" I shook my head "Let's just get this over with!"

"Are you sure?" asked Fagus.

I glanced at him and nodded. Seeing my determination, they gave me a hand to continue.

Now, I could have an overall look at the room. It was a wide semicircular room in white with many ventilators on the ceiling. Rows of elevating marble seats encircled the room, separated into four columns by three steep stairways. At the center, a semicircular stone platform attached to the wall, a wooden bench with seven seats, but only the middle three were occupied by three dragons. Their colors from my left to right were yellow, red, and sky-blue, that meant electricity, fire (I was definitely sure about this one), and ice. Behind them, on the wall, hung a golden disc with a carving of a scale of justice and an infinity symbol above.

Glaciah and I stepped onto the platform while Fagus and Dash stood below. Glaciah bowed to the council then left me alone with the council's members

"Thank you, General Glaciah." the middle dragon spoke, his firm voice echoed across the room "As chairman of the Head Council, I will now call this Secret Assembly to order."

Secret Assembly? This was the first time I heard about such a thing. No wonder this place was abnormally vacant.

"The Secret Assembly" the yellow dragon continued "will be held whenever something that poses possibilities to spread confusion or misunderstanding between our citizens shows up and is within the extent of our control. The case will only be confirmed as secret when there are less than eight individuals know about the subject or object, and in this case is a human."

"The nature of this Assembly is dialogic so as to find out the origins of the issue and relating evidences. However, if we find even one false information, dishonesty or a sign of potential threat, we will immediately sentence or terminate the target on the spot." the sky-blue dragon finish.

As his speech was finished, a group of ten dragon guards surrounded me, waiting for order.

'そういうことか (Sōiukoto ka – That's it, huh)?' This would be piece of cake. It would seem they were interested in how I wasn't so intimidated by such force.

"Now, young human," the Chairman looked at me "please introduce us your proud name."

"My name is Hikari Minosuke. I know it sounds a little weird, but my whole name has its meaning: Light – sight's assistant. Hikari means light."

"A meaningful name. Are you oriental?"

"Yes, sir!"

The chairman nodded with a smile. "I would like to know about your world. How is it?"

"Even without magic, my world is doing fine. We utilize natural resources and create inventions that benefit and improve our lives."

The judges seemed surprised, the electricity dragon noted down what I had said, he was probably a secretary.

"Thank you! Now, we will have you tell us what happened and how did you get here."

I retold the story, describing the details of the portal and what had happened afterward. Everything I said was carefully recorded. Everything went well so far, until I mentioned touching the Prophet Gems, the ice dragon cut in.

"Prophet Gems? Do you bring it along?"

"I think the mark can also be the evidence." I said, raising my hand so that they could see the mark.

"I don't think so. That could be fake."

"Miss Glaciah kept it, well, a fragment of it."

And so the Council asked her to bring the shard to them. "Come forth, Hikari, and place your hand on the shard."

I did what I was told, the shard immediately shone, dying the whole place with its gentle purple rays, making everyone's jaw drop in awe. When I retracted my hand, it stopped shining. The Council whispered to each other for a moment.

"Did anyone else know about this?" was the first thing they asked after seeing such phenomenon.

"Well, except us four, there were some moles and guards, luckily, the citizens haven't seen it yet?"

"Citizens? They saw you, did they not?"

"… Yes."

"Glaciah!" the ice dragon pinned his gaze into her "We did tell you to secretly bring him here, didn't we?"

The sudden question disconcerted the General.

"Well, um, only a small number saw him… I thought I told Fagus to use the forbidden passage."

"I did use the passage! It's just that I thought taking the waterway was faster."

A moment of silence swept through the room. The Council's members facepalmed.

"Oh, by the ancestors!" said the secretary "This is no secret anymore!"

"I agree!" said the ice one "The Assembly has served its purpose."

"Due to what happened," the chairman declared "we will have to bring the Assembly to a halt. As the Leader of the Head Council, I will take this case to the Summit. We will escort Hikari to the Peak Prison, away from public eyes. That is all. Dismiss!"

"Wait!" I tried to grab on the last chance before it slipped away "I have but one question."

"Proceeds."

"I want to know if there are any chances that I can return."

"Yes, there is… But don't raise your hope yet. The portal that brought you here needs a forbidden ritual, and we don't know much about it…"

…

I felt so relieved after that Assembly or whatever it was. The four of us made preparation to bring me to the prison where I would spend the night. Glaciah put on her dorsuma thick cushion, the area between the end of her neck to the wing joints. Fagus used strap to tighten it and made it look like a saddle.

"本当に(Hontōni – Seriously)?I have to ride on you?" This was just so crazy, a general would let me sit on her back. Unimaginable!

"Does it look like I have a choice? I can't afford to let you be seen again. Besides, you're not the only one who wants to end this quick!"

"Hey, Hikari!" called Fagus "Wear this on!"

He threw me a garment, I put it on, a hooded cloak. I imagined myself as a villain in games. I hopped on the saddle, then she took off with a swift motion.

"Glaciah…"

"Yes, Hikari?"

"I'm sorry… for having called you 'missy'. I kinda lost self control."

"Don't mind it!" she giggled "I told you, didn't I, you're in no better circumstances than we already were."

"Yeah… One more thing, was the mole named Logan with you when you were waiting for us near the river?"

"Yes, but I wasn't waiting near the river, the passage led to a trapdoor beneath a knoll inside just one or two watchtowers from the river. Since I had my business, I left him in charge, but I heard a commotion just a few minutes after I had left. But why you ask?"

"Nothing!"

We flew higher to a mountain range. There was a gate on a cliff with a stone staircase that led to the city below. Four guards standing there saluted as Glaciah arrived. The gate was lifted up, revealed a bridge that connected the two sides of the canyon, and the only way in and out. The prison was on the other side, although being a one-story building, it was huge and surrounded by the rocky cliffs, completely isolated from the outside. We went through the entrance to an elevator that led us to the underground floor. This place was also home to the refugees. Since I wore a hooded cloak, they didn't pay me much attention.

"Ah, it's good to see you, Miss Glaciah!"

"Logan! I thought you came homeafteryour shift!"

"Oh, just here sharing my friends a meal. Food these days can be scarce."

"Alright! Would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Yes. What would it be?"

"Can you find him a room? I need to hurry back and report."

"Why, certainly!"

Having done transferring me, she took her leave.

"Come on, lad. I'm sure there was one still empty over there."

"ちょっと待て(Chotto mate – Wait a sec)!" I said before he could get into the elevator "お前は誰 (Omae ha dare – Who are you)?"

"Huh?"

"Just move already! We don't have all night for you!" a guard scolded.

"It's my native tongue," I held my ground, still spoke firmly "and it means 'Who are you'."

"Who am I? I'm Logan the mole, ally of the dragons."

I bursted out laughing. "Nice try playing dumb. The watch moles near the river didn't receive any report nor was informed about my arrival. Glaciah said you were with her near a knoll inside the wall. Why were you out there on the riverbank?"

"I came out to pick you up!"

"She also mentioned no sooner had she left than the commotion broke out. How could you possibly came to pick us up and lead us deep into the city within several minutes?"

He remained silent.

"お前は誰 ?" I pressed each word.

"Guess I've underestimatedyou!"

He grinned wickedly as he took out a pendant on the neck and pull it apart from the necklace chain. His body grew in size, limbs got longer. Standing before us now was an ape, his gaze locked on me.

"Dark soldier!" a guard cried "Send the alarm!"

"There are more of them behind!"

It was true, some of the civilians and refugees had already been fleeing, some were braver to stay and spectated the incident, several apes stood in the middle of the building, forming a pincer attack. These guys were bigger, like the previous one on the bat. They carried maces, boardswords, and shields. I took off the hood, which surprised the crowd even more. The ape near the elevator quickly cut the wires of the hoist, causing the cages to fall, cutting reinforcements from below. But then, a series of explosions could be heard outside. They were bombarding the runaways, some of the bombs hit the building, shook it to its very core. I took the chance and attacked the one in front of us, poking its eyes and kicked it into the pit. The dragons turned around and made a sortie out with me following them since the structure wasn't designed to withstand explosions.

A loud 'bang' resounded above me, debris and boulders started falling. I was ready to launch myself out when something hit me hard from behind and caused me to stumble quite a distance. The air was squeezed out of my lungs as I rolled head to toe,I felt so dizzy, everything went blurry, my ears ringing.

Took me awhile to regain my consciousness. I tried to crawl up with my body aching all over. For some reasons, the only sound I heard the clearest aside the screams, the explosions, the clashes of weapons… was the cry of a small baby dragon who was just about the size of a cat next to an unconscious fire dragon, whose body laid under a pile of debris:

"Mama! Mama! Wake up!"hesobbed as he called his mother, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Each of his word was like a hammer pounded heavily on my mind, a blade stabbed through my heart. I covered my head and cowered, tears started to form a stream running into the edge of my lips, salty. I looked up again, this time, it was my younger self, crying and shaking a lady whose condition was the same as the recent dragon, except that she was lying in a blood lady was his mother, no, MY mother. My vision was completely locked onto the scene. I couldn't tell why, but this horrible setting was so familiar, way too familiar.

A loud screech shattered the hallucination, a bat had noticed the child and was approaching, slowly dining on the fear of its prey, who was rendered unable to move.

"やめろ… (Yame ro – Stop it) やめろ…やめろ!"

With all efforts, I stood up, grabbed a baseball size stone and threw at the beast at full power. The stone struck its left eye, I saw blood shot out from the wound. It curled up, using its membranes to cover the head. I sprinted to it as fast as I could and, with the inertia, struck its wound with a flying kick as it turned its head to locate the attacker. The bat howled in pain and back away from the hatchling. It saw me, its only eye burned with rage. It opened its maw, red flame bursted out of its jaw. Sensing something ugly, I quickly grabbed the kid and jumped sideway. A hot fire ball darted through me in a matter of seconds, exploded and left a hole of fresh molten rock behind me. It reared up for another shot, but I had already left the kid and closed in. With a front swing kick, I shut its mouth tight before it could launch the next shot. At the same time, the power from the kick caused it to lean backward, standing on two hind legs. The fire ball it charged up had no escape, which resulted in an explosion from inside the throat, a painful burning death. My body now stained in its stinking blood.

Some other apes spotted me and gave chase. I ran for the child and carried him with me. On the way to the only exit, the bridge, the hatchling kept on telling me to help his mother, but I ignored him. I knew it for sure, she was dead. She had done her best to save her child and had hit me in the process. I just hoped that no one else suffered that terrible fate. The way out wasn't easy, they were everywhere, overwhelming the security force here, and some were tailing me. No less than one time I had to stop and kicked them out of my way.

Suddenly, another familiar feeling came to me. My father, he did carry me like this. While I was deep in thought, I bumped into a cheetah, both rolled on the ground near the exit arch. Before we could stand up, a bomb fell down and took out part of the bridge. So they intended to keep me here along with the unlucky ones. I glanced at the kid, feeling sorry for him. I couldn't let time go to waste, I would save him.

"You can still jump?" I asked the cheetah. He nodded.

"Good, take this kid to the other side and run!" I gave him the hatchling.

"But mama..." he pleaded me one last time.

"I'm sorry, she's gone! But you must live, no matter what! That is her wish, she gave up her life for you! Live and grow stronger to protect those whom you love! Now, go!"

I bumped heads with him. The cheetah got away from the gap to gather up speed, then he sprinted as fast as he could and leapt to the other side without sweat.

"Wow! I wish I could jump like that!"

I shifted my gaze to the source of the voice, it was a mole standing next to me. I noticed no pendant on him, he was on our side.

"Wish granted!" I said and kicked him, he flew in a beautiful arch and landed safely, except for his butt.

On my side, the guards barely managed to escape by combining elements to create a multi-elemental barrier, preventing the Dark Army from passing to the city.

"Come, human, let me give you a hand!"

"Just go! I'll be right behind you!"

The guards flew over the gap, I ran back a certain distance to prepare for the long jump. But I had other intention, I released the lock of the hoist and the gate drop down, blocking me along with the apes. Before the door shut, I saluted them.

As the elemental wall wore out, I would have to fight. In these moments, it was normal to feel afraid, but inside me now were relief and peace. Because I had remembered everything and had found my own self. Memories flooded into my mind, those of my childhood.

On a peaceful day like the other ones, I was playing with my mom inside when suddenly, everything started shaking violently. Mom and I both ran for the door led to the garden, but something pushed me on the back. I fell on the grass, passed out for a moment. When I woke up, I found that mom was killed by the collapsing building. It was her who shoved me out of harm's way. But with a mind of a child, I didn't know what death was, so I hopelessly tried to wake her up. Around me, houses, facilities were destroyed. But then, an embrace took me into the air and carried me quickly away from mom. It was dad, despite my pleas, he just kept running to a helicopter with rescue cage full of people. He gave me a kiss on my forehead, then handled me to my uncle. The helicopter took off, I saw the raging tsunami stormed into my village and washed dad away. I was so shocked that I passed out. Due to their deaths, I suffered amnesia. Like a defense mechanism, to hide away from the pain, my body chose to forget. But that wasn't all, due to financial problems, a family court was held, and a kindhearted chubby lady would like to adopt me. If it wasn't of my grandpa's dojo, I would have been separated from my family.

…

The wall was at its limits, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, eased my mind.

'_父さん__, __母さん__, __ありがとうございます__(Tō-san, kā-san, arigatōgozaimasu - Dad, mom, thank you)._

'_私はそんな所に__, __諦めない__, __負けない__(Watashi wa sonnatokoroni, akiramenai, makenai - I will not give up or lose in such a place)__._

'_これが私の保護の意志__(Kore ga watashi no hogo no ishi – This is my will of protection)__!_

'_見てください__(Mite kudasai – Please watch me).'_

I saw a dagger nearby, so I picked it up. If blood was what they demanded, then blood was what they would pay. And finally, the wall died out. In front of me, about forty apes, not to mention the bats. They growled as if they sniffed the smell of victory. They were wrong.

"よし, 踊りしましょう(Yoshi, odorishimashou – Okay, let's dance)!"


	4. Chapter 3

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS**

**Chapter**** 3****: ****The prison's outbreak**

I stood idly with a dagger held tight within grip, surrounded by the apes with the only exit sealed tight behind. I quickly glanced around, estimating the enemy's numbers. There were at least twenty-five small ones, eight mediums, whose height was about my shoulders, five larges, the same size as the one I faced back in the valley of Avalar, taller and bulkier, and several bats standing on the rubble of the collapsed prison. Oddly enough, the medium and large ones were like hunchbacks, imagine how tall they could be if they could be able to stand straight. Despite the fact that their numbers had been decrease since they had to deal with the guard dragons here before completely eliminated them, they were just too much for me to handle alone. I had to think of a plan, and fast.

They sent the first group consisted of ten small units to face me, maybe they wanted to test their prey. The first wave quickly encircled me, they constantly uttered gibberish sounds like "ook", "hoo", and "eek", which made us look like celebrating a tribal ceremony.

In the animal kingdom, sounds could be used to mark territories, to communicate, to find mates, and to threaten or to confuse enemies. Their cursed sound tactic was quite effective since I had been staying restless for the whole day long, my body was more than just weary.

This battle was different from the last one: the first to make a move would lose. All of my nerves were tense, so much that I would collapse immediately if I wasn't good enough to keep myself conscious. Another side effect was the irritation, I could lose control and rushed into them just to make them stop. Of course, that would only drain me from my stamina even more, that was what they wanted. In these situations, keeping a cool head would be most important. The only option here was to play the waiting game, let's see who would be the first to move.

To my prediction, they started to lose patience. An ape behind me howled and rushed in, intended to secure my back. After the signal, another one from my left advanced. And so, they split their formation into two groups, throwing away their very own advantage when they were so close. I spun and delivered a back kick to knocked back the first attacker, then I grabbed the second one's wrist as it tried to claw me and hurled it at the smaller group, creating an opening.

The others started to engage, this was when the dagger came into handy. I jumped over the small group still lying and struggling to get back to their feet to gain more distance and to at least force them to face me one on one. I did learn some important experiences when facing a many-versus-one situation like being always on the move, facing one opponent at a time, utilizing weapons if necessary…

My plan had proven effective as they started to give chase. The leader launched to tackle me, but I was faster to make a jump above it and stomped on its head, at the same time another one leapt at me directly. I swung the dagger and cut its chest, then stabbed the leader's back since I was standing on it. The followers spread to corner me, but I plunged at them and thrusted the dagger into the closest one's chest. I used its body as a shield to ram into the incoming ones and took out two more in the process. With just one wrong move, they lost half of the wave's numbers.

I heard a battle cry from behind, I quickly sidestepped as a medium-sized ape ran at me and tried to hit me with its mace. It missed, but the hard blow left a crack on the stone floor. It continued to attack, swinging the mace frenetically. I moved backwards to keep the distance while trying my best to avoid being hit and focusing for a counter. The ape dealt another hard attack but it only hit the air, a brief moment of balance loss was all I ever needed. I threw the dagger into its eye, it dropped the mace and reached for the dagger. I quickly grabbed its mane and wrestled it down with a judo move, squashing two other small ones coming to its aid as the mass of flesh fell hard on the ground. That was unexpected, but it did the job, anyway. I pulled the dagger out and stabbed its heart, then finished the two beneath it.

The ape changed their tactic, they reared up for an all-out assault, and on the signal of a large ape beating its shield with the broadsword, they both advanced. To my surprise, the big ones all stayed put, letting their lackeys do the job. With that many coming at once, it was hit-and-run time. They easily closed in, but also easily slain. As I took out several more, something flew at me from above. They were dynamites thrown by the large ones. Things were getting worse, as I was dodging the explosions, an ape managed to claw me on the back. I quickly spun and repaid it with a kick in the face. I then made a narrow escape as another dynamite exploded nearby, the shockwave threw me rolling two or three times and dropped the dagger along the way. I tried to catch my breath, but no way they would let me do so. A large ape leapt on me, I barrel rolled to evade its grip, but it quickly bashed the shield into my face as I just got back on my feet. If I didn't use the tenkan footwork, I was as sure as dead. Despite that, the shield still slightly hit my chin. Everything went blur and spinning, I took a few steps back, trying to keep balance and orient myself. The ape took its chance and tried to grab me one more time. I ducked, then landed an uppercut right to its groin. I made my escape as it slowly collapsed in its unexplainably delighted climax.

Overall, up till now, I brought down one third of their numbers just by myself. I stood up, panting heavily. They got me cornered again, with no room to run to this time. My head was aching, my ears started to ring, my throat was dried, the wound on my back became stinging due to the sweat, my legs were shaking. I was at my limit, but I had no remorse. If I didn't stay behind to hold them off, they would probably ambush the city and there would be more casualties. I guessed this was too much for returning alive. Still, despite the news of the outbreak had been conveyed, reinforcement hasn't come yet. What was going on?

"Avalar!" a cry echoed throughout the place, then arrows rained down on the enemy's force, forcing them to back away from me. It was the cheetahs and the moles on the steep cliff. And in the center, Fagus was standing with a gladius in hand, commanding the group. As the group was reloading arrows, some small apes who just escaped the first volley advanced again. Fagus shouted at me when I was busy fending them off: "Hikari! Catch!"

I guessed he was throwing something that might help me with these minions, so when I saw the object flying at me, I dodged an incoming attack, then jumped and grabbed the object. I really regretted not taking a second look at what I tried to catch.

"おい (Oi – Hey)! ファガツ (Fagatsu – Fagus)! 一体何これ (Ittainani kore – What the hell is this)!?"

What I was holding in my hand was… a frying pan, and here was the worst thing about it: this "sunnova" was the one that hit me in the head, the main cause I ended up here. Yes, there was no mistake here, I was definitely sure about it.

An ape tried to attack, I waited for it to get close enough and landed a blow in the face using the pan, so hard that it could flatten its face and sent it flying at its comrades. I quickly dodged another one's attack and with all my strength, I hit the top of the ape's head, a "bonk" resounded sharply as it laid unconscious on the ground.

In the meantime, reinforcement team went to engage the enemies. Fagus came to my side and gave me some water: "Here, it's herbal drink, our specialty. I've heard everything, you've done well, Hikari! Let us take care of the rest."

"ありがとう (arigatō – thanks). For a moment, I thought I was done for."

I gulped down the liquid, it tasted bitter and slightly sweet and, if my tongue still okay, a little taste of alcohol, like it was fermented. I just hoped that it didn't have any weird effect with my stomach. There was another thing I had to admit, this drink was really addictive, but looking on the bright side, it helped bring me back to my senses.

"I knew something was off, but I would never expect them to use disguise magic to sneak in this many."

"Say, why were you the only ones here? Where are the dragons?"

"It's extremely hard to get pass this mountain, since it's one of the highest ranges. Also, you can see how isolated this place can be: razor sharp cliffs, harsh weather, thin air… All for the ultimate defense mechanism of this unique prison."

Some apes got past the cheetahs and the moles and came for us, I had no other choice but to continue fighting with Fagus.

"So, how did you get here?" I asked, banging the pan in the face of those that dared come close.

"We barely made it using the moles' tunnel system." He stabbed an ape while talking, "But, believe me, it will be the first and the last time I crawl inside those stinky passages! And by the way, that thing sure fits you!"

"おのれ (onore – damn you)!You even brought this with you!?" I said furiously, pointing the wound on my head. Fagus covered his mouth, tried to hold down a laughter. I knew he understood what I was trying to say, but his action made me even madder. I realized something, if the pan was here, perhaps there would be something else sucked along from my world.

"Fagus, were there any objects around when you found me?"

"The villagers found you, and yes, some other things as well. Mostly papers with strange writings, some small arrows, food, and such."

Those papers and arrows were probably the New Year charms sold in the shrine's front yard.

"Oh, one of my men found this!" he said, showing me a curved wooden stick about more than 60 centimeters long, "This staff is heavier than it looks. I don't know why it's curved like this."

I grinned pleasantly: "これはスタッフじゃない (Kore wa sutaffu janai– This isn't a staff)! 白鞘刀だ (Shirasaya tō da – It's a plain scabbard sword)!"

At the moment, a bat carrying an ape forced its way out of the warring crowd. It locked eyes on me, the ape signaled its mount to attack. I lowered the center of gravity, holding the sword with my left hand, the other hand slightly placed on the hilt. When the bat raised its paw, I took one step forward to the right distance and kneeled on one knee at the same time, then quickly drew the sword upward diagonally. The blade cut clean through the descending limb, leaving it hanging on a small remaining of the membrane. The sudden pain caused the bat to lean on the other armand flung the mounter away. Without wasting any second, I turned and slashed downward, beheading the creature. I performed the chiburi, the action of shaking blood off the blade before drawing the sword back into the scabbard.

No need to say much, Fagus was like stunned with my performance. With the right weapon in hand, I feared nothing.

"Oi, Fagus, how long are you going to stand there? Let's just wrap this up already!"

He nodded, then rushed along with me back to the fight.

"You take the right, I take the left!" he shouted.

"了解 (Ryōkai – Roger that)!"

As we parted ways, I was surprised how quickly things changed. With the element of surprise, the reinforcement had managed to gain the advantage over their enemies, but now, they were being pushed back. The reason was magic, the apes knew how to use magic. With explosive and magic combined, they regain the upper hand, our side started to suffer casualties.

I quickly locked my eyes on those who used magic, they were mainly the big ones, both four of them. At first glance, I thought they only carried normal weapons, but those turned out to be enchanted ones. Even worse, they could spawn small units to aid them. Gotta take them down while there was still chance.

I charged in and slew any apes in the way. I saw that they were faster than before, or it might be my imagination. But, no, when looked closely, there was a thin aura on each of them. Enhancing magic, no doubt, and it was from those big one again. How annoying!

A cheetah fell down, an ape saw the chance and took a leap to finish him. Too bad, I was right there to help, my blade easily went through it slender body and split it in two. I helped him get on his feet, seemed to be still shocked with what I'd just done.

"Leo?" I recognized the pattern of his dots.

"Yes, it's me!"

"Wait! Weren't you with your family?"

"This is my decision, Hikari, I want to return you the favor. Let us fight together!"

I could only sigh. He really cared about this at a time like this? I thought he should be caring more for his family.

"Fine, but don't get in the way! Got any mages or warlocks?"

"No, we don't learn magic, neither the moles."

'_まじ(Maji – Seriously)!?'_ To use physical weapons against magic wielder was a disadvantage, but if I could have a chance to close in, it would be a different story.

"Can you use bow?" I asked Leo.

"Yes."

"Aim for the arm!" I targeted the closest mage and advanced. It, too, saw me. It raised the axe and called down ice shards. I changed course, running sideways to avoid the incoming icicles and distract it to attack only me so that Leo could get a good angle. An arrow zipped through the air and hit the target in the shoulder, making it drop its weapon. I quickly rushed in. It tried to attack with its shield, I slid beneath it as the shield ran along my hair and swung the sword right at the knee. It collapsed on one leg, I stabbed its back to hold it in position and shouted: "今だ (Ima da – Now)!" At my signal, arrows flew at it until its arms dangled in the air. That was one down.

I heard heavy thuds from behind, another mage attempted to hit me with its staff. I guessed the attack direction was diagonal. Before it could hit me, I had already pulled the sword out of the corpse and had gotten into its personal space. I grabbed the arm and used its momentum to throw it down, then quickly drew the sword, clove its temple and followed with a stab in the chest to make sure it would never get up again. Everything happened in the matter of seconds. On the other side, Fagus was also doing fine by himself.

After having taken care of the mages, our side, with moral rising high, gathered round, and under Fagus' command. We pressed the attack and ended the battle with the least casualties. In the end, most of the apes were killed, some were captured, none escaped from the battlefield, except a bat, which barely managed to climb its way to the summit, I doubt it could get out safely with such terrain. And of course, first thing first, a report was always a priority. I told them that there were still a lot of dragons and refugees trapped beneath the collapsed building. The moles went into action quickly with their tunnel system to reach the survivors while we went to open the gate to allow the dragons to enter.

"The hoist came apart," a mole said, "it'll take some time to fix it."

About me, I wouldn't dare to hope that everything was over after a series of events, and I had to keep my alert high. Every time I thought I could take a rest, trouble came almost instantly. I had to ask Fagus for more mouthfuls of that herbal drink, the only thing that could kept me conscious.

"Don't overuse it, Hikari." he chuckled, "You'll get drunk!"

"Can't help it! I'm totally worn out! Fagus-dono, I was wondering, why your tribe found it hard to fight the apes even when they didn't use magic?"

"I can't blame them." Fagus lowered his voice, "We cheetahs aren't expert in warfare, hunting is. Only a few of us know how to fight, they can be great moral support for the others, but can also be the ones who die first."

"Like you?"

"And you, too."

Since when had they considered me one of their own? Well, that didn't matter, building relationships was perhaps one way to increase chances of surviving in this unknown world. We

"Hold up, did you just change my name?"

"No, the suffix -dono I used is to show my respect to you. The most common one is -san."

He paused a bit to digest this new thing.

"Say, Hikari, when you used your 'sword in disguise', you usually drew it in and out of the sheath, why?"

'Sword in disguise'? Even he could think of a name like that. I nearly burst out laughing, but all and all, the name just said everything about this sword.

"居合術 (Iaijutsu), Sword Drawing Technique, my home world's specialty. And this 'sword in disguise' is a shirasaya."

"Shirasaya?"

"Shirasaya (白鞘) is a type sword that has a plain, undecorated wooden scabbard and hilt and has no hand guard. They come in many variations like a log, a stick, even a cane. Also, these one-edge sword are commonly called katana in my world, one of the world's sharpest swords."

"I see." he seemed to be hooked on learning about me, "What about the sword drawing thing you said earlier?"

"It's an art, and a tradition. My home country, in the ancient times, engulfed in civil wars. That was the time of the samurai, proud and noble warriors bound by the code of honor. A samurai must be ready to fight at all times, so it's necessary for them to know how to draw the sword the right way and fast. For them, being cut without even being able to draw the sword means disgrace, which will ultimately lead them to perform seppuku, a ritual suicide in which a disgraced samurai disembowels himself to regain his honor. That is how Iaijutsu was born. And, I said that I wanted to return home, didn't I?"

Fagus was a little surprised since I changed the topic quite sudden. He nodded hesitantly, didn't get what I said.

"It's not like I'm losing hope, but judging the circumstance I'm in, I don't really think I can have a chance to live until then. I'm the chosen one, so there are two outcomes that will most likely occur. Or they'll kill me here, or they'll capture me and do whatever god knows awful things just to make me fight for them. If I were to fall to the enemy's hand, I would either commit suicide or have any of you do the honor of ending my life."

He stared me in the eyes, speechless. His face was like telling me that what I had said was a joke, no more, no less. Deep inside me, I knew it would hurt him if I told him that. He was an honest man, almost as much as I was. I still remembered his words: he, and maybe his village, was in my debt. Yeah, I knew I asked him something quite impossible. But what if my fear came true, would he be able to make a decision to stop me or let me harm the others.

Fagus placed his paw on my shoulder, tried to console me: "That won't happen, my friend" he whispered "We will be by your side."

"うん、分かってる (Un, wakatteru – Yeah, I know)."

A commotion caught our attention. Behind us, a black fog appeared on the ground. It soon grew high like a small plant sprouted from the soil. From the fog, two green balls lit up, then the fog slowly faded away, gradually revealed the shadow of a humongous figure.

"来たか (Kita ka – It's here)!"

Just as I expected, this wasn't over yet. I placed my hand on the hilt, readied myself for another battle.


	5. Chapter 4

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS**

**Chapter****4****: ****Power**

"Hikari Minosuke, who is destined to be legend. Convey the light of hope and guide my children through the storm of despair."

"誰だ (Dare da – Who's there)? わあっ (Waa – Woah)!"

…

'_何でしたその光は __(Nanideshitasono hikari wa – What was that light__)? __夢だったのか __(Yumedattanoka – Was it a dream__)?__'_

In the dark, a small light spoke to me those words, then it disappeared in a dazzling flash. I blinked my eyes, glanced around trying to relocate myself in the dark.

Everything around me started to become visible. I was in a cold dark circular chamber. The roof was naked with metallic frames supported a metallic circle, through which a pinkish beam streamed down from the sky full of black clouds to the center of the hall. Torches, lit with green fire, attached on the wall. Some armors, weapons made of skulls and bones displayed beneath the torches increased the spookiness of this place. To the opposite end of the room situated a big chair, which I suspected a throne. Its base and arms were made of stone, the wooden back was framed with long bones that were tied together by leather straps, and a forked banner draped in the center. The throne was also reinforced with several chains connected to the ground.

I tried to move my body, but it would seem that the muscles were against my will. I found that I was in a kneeling pose, the only thing which held me from lying flat on the cold stone floor due to tiredness and injuries was a pair of shackles coiled around my wrists. The chains slightly clicked as I moved my almost entirely numbed arms.

"Ah, you're finally awake. You had me worry to death, brother!"

"Gaul…"

"Worry not! Soon, your suffering will come to an end, brother!"

"For the last time," I emphasized each word "I'm not your brother!"

"Oh, you will be!" he chuckled.

Slowly, like an auto puzzle game, pieces of memory started to return and linked together. I remembered what had happened in the prison yard. I had lost the battle. Quite obvious, wasn't it? But it was sucks, if I didn't want to say that it was totally ridiculous, humiliating, and embarrassing.

…

I was tired, yet trouble didn't want to leave me alone. The fight with the Dark Soldiers had drained me of my strength almost entirely. I wished that I had had more time to rest, but I just couldn't. And, speaking of the devil, it came just not long after I and Fagus' team had finished wrapping the battle up. I wasn't surprised when I saw the colossus appeared in a black fog since I had mentally prepared.

An ape, yes, another one, but different from any I'd seen. This guy had a hunch back with most of his fur depilated from the nape to the shoulders, revealing the pale yellow skin. Didn't know whether he was aged or just because he hadn't taken a bath for, like, decades. I thought the second reason fitted better since the skin of the said area had a lot of warts, some were as big as a bowl, some turned green, most likely infected, and his smell was so horrible that I nearly vomited despite the distance between us. Aside of that, he had long, thick fur covering the lower part of the shoulders, the chest and the cheeks. His long face, decorated with stripes of red, blue, and white paint, had many scar, a fractured lower canine tooth, signs of an experienced warrior. His green eyes were sharp and menacing, they could strike fear easily to the enemies' heart. His whole body was quite off balance, the upper body, especially the shoulders, was robust and wide while the lower one was tapered, added a pair of short legs, only half of the body's height, which made him more like a walking toadstool.

He really had a weird taste for armor. He wore a helmet with two long horns sprouted sideways which reminded me of the Vikings, a thick shoulder plate on the left, a pair of gauntlets with retractable twin blades, a scepter with three prongs holding a large emerald in hand, two scimitars stored crosswise on the back with the hilts pointed downward, several leather straps coiled around his stomach, faulds with a front skirt, a full set of leg armor, and a diamond-shaped blade tied onto the tip of the tail.

Everyone was dumbstruck, I could sense the tension was rising in the air as the whole place became silent in an instant. I glanced at the cheetahs and the moles, I could see the fear on their faces like reading a book. If this was their reinforcement, and just one, it could tell how strong this guy was. Animals had sharp sense which allowed them to easily detect fear or hostility to decide whether to attack or back away. I was inspecting him when Fagus whispered his name: "Gaul!"

Gaul, the King of the Apes, had finally shown himself, at a time unexpected. He leered around smirking, and when he saw me, he spoke with a raucous voice: "So, you're the human my master spoke about. Seems like you're just done having some fun! It's a little late, but mind if I join in?"

He raised the scepter, green lightnings shot out from the emerald, stunning and knocking out all the cheetahs and the moles, leaving only me unharmed.

"い、一撃 (I-ichi geki – J-just one hit)!? みんな (Minna – Guys)…"

"Can't… move!" groaned Fagus, "Hikari… you are… no match… for him… Run… quickly!"

"Ho ho ho, don't worry, I didn't kill them! I just want to have fun with you, this is to prevent unnecessary interference! Having audiences isn't so bad!"

"Just… a little more… the dragons… will come!"

"Oh, they won't!" he chuckled, "The only entrance has been bombarded. Now, this place is literally isolated!"

"なんた言ってたの、この野郎 (Nanta itteta no, konoyarō – What did you say, you bastard)?"

If the bridge had been destroyed, then the hatchling I had risked my life for, the dragons, the refugees…

"Come to think of it," he continued, "why didn't Master summon a human who speaks our language? Oh, well, anyone will do!"

"Master?"

"The Dark Master, yes!" grinned Gaul.

"I was summoned here… by HIM!?" Until now that I understood what General Glaciah had said since we had still been in Avalar.

"So, you know our language! Very nice! Yes! It's a great honor to be summoned by him and to serve him!"

"ふざけるな (Fuzakeru na – Don't fucking kidding me)!"

"My goal is to capture you alive" he continued, ignoring my words, "and alive at all cost! My master doesn't want a walking dead in his army!"

"Then it would be easier if you use that!" I pointed at the scepter.

"This? Yes, it'd be easier, and you could've made it even easier for both of us had you not been so persistent. But more importantly, what do you think makes me want to face you one-on-one? Your power! I've been monitoring you all these times, your combat skills far surpasses anyone that I've ever faced. Even though I ordered my men to be careful with you, but it seems they just forgot what I said. You are too precious that I have to deal with you myself, or else my Master's plan would be delayed again."

"Hah! Can't you see the paradox in what you just said? Your master wants me alive and he wants you to be quick, you don't want your soldiers to harm me, yet you're going to waste your time toying with me? You're making yourself a laughing stock!"

"I have never failed before, neither today. I'll try not to kill you, but still be able to enjoy the fun! Come on, draw your sword and fight me! Or maybe…" he paused a bit, then lowered the voice, along with a menacing grin, "you want them to suffer because of your stubbornness, don't you?"

I was stirred by what he had said. I took a look around me, observing the fallen ones. As I stared at the bodies, those killed by the Dark Army, and those slain by my hands. That moment, a strange feeling lurked inside me, coiled around my heart and started to squeeze. My breath became heavy and fast, my legs shook a lot, threatening to collapse at any time, my vision switched between blurry and clear. Could it be fear, or guilt? Words couldn't describe it, and I didn't think I was conscious enough to know what it was. At first, I believed he was right, that they died because of me. But when I thought closely about it, that wasn't true at all, it was all his doings that they had died. Oddly enough, I couldn't rid that ghostly thought out of my head, it was like a leech stuck tightly to my mind.

Then, by chance or coincidence, I caught sight of the dead dragoness lying beneath the debris. Like the night moved away for the incoming dawn, the dark cloud in my head vanished. I thought about that small dragon, he was just like me, he had to witness the death of his parent at such age. The reason I had saved him wasn't just because he and I shared that same pain, but above all, that action was the right thing to do. But in the end, he couldn't make it…

After the sorrow came the pain, and from the pain born the rage. I tightened my fingers around the hilt and drew the sword out, my blade reflected the glorious rays of the sun rising above the pointy summits of the mountain range. I pointed the tip toward him: "My stubbornness nor my appearance here has anything to do with their death. It's you to be blamed for it!"

"Oh, really? But you also enjoyed the slaughtering, didn't you?"

"There's no denying the blood stained on my hands, but the main reason is still from you. You forced us to fight!"

"Great cause demands great sacrifice! Soon, when our master returns, he will reign over the world! Then, our kind will find its long lost glory of the former days!"

"なんたと (Nanta to – What)?"

"And you, chosen one, you will have your place with us in his kingdom! You and I can even be brothers!"

"I don't know nor care about your cause," my voice shook with emotion, "what I know is you kill for your pleasure, at the same time, you force your kind to their death for your damn goal! Sacrifice my ass, Gaul! You want a duel? I'll gladly accept it, and the honor of stopping you!"

"That's the spirit! Show me what you got, brother!"

"To hell with that 'brother' thing! I'll never be your brother!"

"Oh, you will!"

He stored the scepter on his back, then pull out his dual scimitars, swinging and shouting: "I, Gaul the Great, shall challenge you!"

"私は視の助光、お前を倒す、今ここに (Watashi wa Minosuke Hikari, omae o taosu, ima koko ni – I am Hikari Minosuke, and I'm gonna defeat you, here and now)!"

When the informing formality was done, I took a stance called chuudan no kamae(中段の構え – middle stance), a stance commonly used in kendo and other traditional Japanese martial arts involving the katana. We held our positions, eyes pinning on each other, waiting for the opponent's movement. An off balance duel, on one side, a wounded, fatigue human with a thin katana, on the other side, an ape almost as twice as his height, powerful and in good shape with a massive pair of scimitars.

One of the columns of the prison couldn't hold on to its own, crumbled into pieces. We both engaged. Gaul leapt high into the sky and stabbed down. I rolled away as he landed, his force smashed the ground beneath and formed a dent. I counterattacked with a stab to his flank, but he was fast enough to block my attack with his gauntlet. I retracted my sword to evade a swing from his blade. He continued with a series of slashes and stabs, but I dodged them all.

Despite his size and his scimitars, his speed was something I couldn't look down on. He kept closing in, making me have a hard time keeping the distance between us. My nerves were at their greatest tension when I had to focus on avoiding and parrying as he rapidly attacked. At the same time, I tried to fight back whenever possible.

We were like entwined to each other in a dance full of sparks and clashing sounds as our blades collided. Although I was enraged because of his actions, in this very moment, I felt something else. It was like I got stimulated when fighting a worthy opponent, when I bet everything into this only goal, some sort of excitement, perhaps. Could this be that I enjoyed fighting this much?

With those thoughts, I got carried away. Gaul threw a punch at me, I could only quickly hold the sword in front of me, one hand gripping the hilt while the other hand placed on the back of the blade, facing the edge toward him. I managed to block a direct hit, but the force from the punch pushed the blade back and pressed hard on the chest. I felt like my ribs were about to break, also, I was thrown back quite a distance. My chest felt like being pressed on by a weight, I nearly got suffocated.

Gaul grimaced, raised his knuckle to check the wound. My blade left a deep cut to the bone on each of the three middle fingers and a slight cut on the little one due to the force he transferred to his attack. With such injuries, he would have a hard time controlling his fingers, let alone holding the blade. That was my subjective thought, he seemed to not be affected much by that because he could still hold his scimitar quite firm with the injured hand. If I wanted to disarm him, that was the only spot.

"What a sharp and durable sword you have there! Maybe I should ask Him to summon a smith from your world!"

"Not in a million years to come!" said me, trying to be on my feet. I coughed several times to catch some air in the process.

The King of the Apes stood there, letting me balance my breath before continuing the fight. He mumbled something, then one of his blades caught fire. I knew what he was going to do next, so I held my position. The enchanted attack could be strong enough to break my sword, so wouldn't take a chance. Contrary to what I thought, he swung his ignited blade to launch a fireball at me. I could only dodge, as the fireball exploded behind, I heard screams as well. No need to say much, he just played dirty. He wanted to force me to get close to him by targeting the exhausted warriors lying here and there. If I kept running away, they would die, and sooner or later he would get me.

I chose a spot where there wasn't anyone behind me then turned myself to face him. Unless I had something to distract him, my chance of landing a successful hit on him was phenomenally low. As I was thinking, something was bugging me on the outer part of the thigh. I glanced down and saw a bulge where the pants pocket was. It was my mobile phone, and I had been carrying it all along without even noticing it. It was vibrating with the morning alarm when I took it out. Then, like a brainstorm, I immediately came up with a crazy plan. It was a risky gamble, but it would give me the advantage I need if successful.

When Gaul was ready to throw another fireball, I immediately advanced. With my speed, dodging it was piece of cake, and I quickly approached him. I marked my timing then threw the phone at him. He swung his blade to slash the little projectile. As the blade cut halfway into the phone, it sudden exploded and startled him. Lithium-ion battery was the cause, because when damaged, it would ignite and what happened next was so obvious that I didn't need to explain. Despite that trick up my sleeve, Gaul was still able to attack with the other blade. I launched myself over it and landed behind him with a roll. It was that moment I knew I forgot something: his bladed tail. He plunged his diamond shaped blade at me. Within a hairbreadth, I tilted my head sideways, the edge only grazed my cheek. Due to that, Gaul's position fell into my blind spot. My premonition told me to immediately thrusted the sword toward as fast as possible. With such move, even if Gaul could react, it was too late. I hit him.

*Clang!

A crystal-clear sound spread confusion over my mind. I raised my head to see where I had hit. Instead of hitting his back, my blade hit right at the damned emerald on his scepter. I dropped the sword due to the pain transmitted from the impact, my heart was like almost stopped beating when I realized I just screwed up my only chance. Gaul back away instantly, he stood with a burst of laughter and clapped by clashing the side of his scimitars against each other: "Well done, human! But it's all over now! Victory is mine!"

He launched at me and threw another punch. At that moment, I didn't know why my body responded with a reverse spin kick. With such force from his punch, my attempt to deflect it using a kick was like throwing eggs against rocks. To our astonishment, my kick completely deviated his punch and dislocated his little finger. Such turn of event led to Gaul losing his balance and leaned forward. I didn't understand much, but with the inertia of the kick, I didn't hesitate to throw a tornado kick right on his head and knocked him down without any sweat.

The velocity of thoughts inside my head now was like lightning, I figured out what had just happened in an instant. The moment I had damaged Gaul's scepter, I had felt a slight electrocute-liked feeling ran through my hand. Now, my body was cleansed of tiredness and pain, I felt like being reborn with a new body, as light as feather, overflowing with energy.

"H-how could this… be possible!?" Gaul shook his head to shake off the stun from my kick, his face was full of stupefaction. Oh, how I wished I had a mirror here for him to see himself right now.

"You cheated, Gaul!" I picked up my sword, "You had no intention of playing fair to begin with!"

He gaze at me, completely speechless. He thought he could just use some tricks to assure an easy victory.

"If I remember clearly" I continued "the energy currents shot out from your scepter did retract into the emerald. To be straight, you stole their physical strength to power yourself before the fight! You really fear me that much?"

My words of truth impaled his wicked heart, he went enraged knowing that his cheap trick was out, "Fear? Me? It was you who being naive, kid! This is war, victory is all that matters! You must use everything you have to win!"

I was a little surprised, but I had to admit that he got a point. In war, there was no such thing like fighting fairly, only victory or defeat.

"そうか (Sou ka – Is that so)?" I spoke to myself, "やはり多分甘いだな (Yahari tabun amai dana–Maybe I AM naive, after all)!"

I switched my eyes back to him, he stepped back a bit, seemed to had sensed my murderous intention.

"You mentioned you wanted to play with me, didn't you? You took your time, now, take mine as well!". Silently and slowly, I took the middle stance: "踊りしましょう (Odorishimashou - Let's dance)!"

Gaul let out a battle cry and engaged as if he had nothing to lose. I stood there, waiting for him to get close, then with a swift movement, I was right behind him, blood dripping down from the tip of my sword. Before he landed the strike, I had gotten past him and had cut his arm's tendon. He put his sword down, but would never be able to lift it up again. Thanks to the energy now coursing within my veins, I could be able to move faster than an average human and executed the attacks with extreme precision.

I closed in, he hurled the blade at me, but I quickly dodged with ease. I returned and struck him on the shoulder, then took into the air to evade his hack, landed an axe kick right on the head. Gaul stepped back staggeringly, I thrusted at him again, he raised the injured arm, using the gauntlet to block, but my sword went through it like going through a loaf of cheese. Realizing that my sword got stuck, he stabbed me with the twin blade from the other gauntlet.

I immediately let go of the sword, lowered myself to move into the gap between his body and the attack. I launched a twin punch right on his stomach to push him back. I grabbed the hilt and pull, also, I stomped on the injured arm. With two opposite force, the sword was freed from captivity. We kept our distance again, but this time, the table had already turned. The hunter became the hunted, and the prey became the hunter.

I reared myself, then sprang at him with everything I got. But I didn't attack him, rather, with my speed, I moved from place to place around him to daze him. Then I started to strike, but right at the moment I was about to get him, he disappeared.

I turned all sides to look for him. He might be using invisibility, but I quickly refuted it. If he was invisible, I could still be able to hear his footsteps and his terrible smell. I couldn't detect any of those.

I felt something not right, I cartwheeled away as a fireball whizzed past me, barely. The heat got my hip and charred my clothes, but it wasn't grievous. He had been in my blind spot, standing on a debris pile. Teleportation, that was the only spell he could cast to escape from my assault. He would now play a cat and mouse game, trying to make me waste my stamina. I wondered how many more tricks he hasn't shown yet. Surely, chasing him around was definitely a terrible idea, but standing still and hoping to counter him was also a tactic most unwise. If only I had had a range weapon.

He disappeared again, then reappeared elsewhere. He used my trick, very clever. I noticed something was off, he didn't use his fireballs anymore, his blade had stopped igniting. Which meant he had to close in, and he did. Each time he teleported, he approached me closer, and switched place faster. When he got close enough, I prepared my attack. I swiftly moved the katana to my left, the right forearm above my head, then placed the back of the katana opposite my back, the tip point to the left side. I grabbed the hilt with both hands and, with all the might, swung from back to front diagonally, creating a full-circle slash.

Gaul appeared right behind me again, but he was within range. He immediately suffered a cut running from the upper abdomen to the chest. Blood spurted out, sprinkled all over my back. He covered his wound, eyes wide opened, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

I turned, stabbed into his left eye. He receded a few paces, tried to keep himself from collapsing. He was now like a tree shivering at the site of a lumberjack who was ready to give it a final hack to fell it. Around me, cries echoing throughout the yard, the cries of victory from those whose strength had been stolen. "Finish him!", "Go for it!", "Do it!"… The strength coursing inside me, everyone's strength, fueled with their feelings, urged me to raise my katana for the final blow.

I took to the air, aiming for a down stroke right on his head. At this rate, even if he could block it, our strength would end it all. Victory was served.

My momentum didn't last long, as fate wanted to toy with me. Gaul stepped back, but he treaded right on the pan on the ground. He fell, his toes hooked onto the inner side and sent the pan flew right at me as he fell with his feet pointing upward.

"何 (Nani)!?" that was the only word I could utter as the pan hit my head once again. Everything went black, again…

…

Back to the present, in the chamber, the apes had gathered round. Gaul came near the light pillar, lowered himself on one knee, "Master, everything is ready."

"Very good, Gaul!" a voice came out from the light, it wasn't so clear, sounded like two or three voices mixed together, "It was a difficult task, but you did well! How are your wounds?"

"They're fine, my Lord! Those are the greatest achievements in my time serving you!"

"If you say so! Now, let us begin the ritual!"

Gaul bathed the emerald on his scepter in that mysterious light, then he stood in front of me. "Don't worry, it'll only hurt a bit."

He jammed it onto my chest. I screamed as the hot energy from the emerald rushed inside my body, into each and every cells, heating them all up. I closed my eyes, clenched my teeth, tried to resist it. I felt like I could explode anytime soon. Then, when I opened my eyes, I was standing, pain free, everything around me was nothing but pitch black darkness. I raised my voice, it echoed several times. Confusion came one after another, a purple cloud emerged in front of me, just three steps away. At its center glowed two spots with bright color.

"Fwahahaha! Finally, we meet!"

Could this be the Dark Master? It probably was, I could feel the pressure coming from him.

"Resistance is futile, human! You are mine!"

"What are you gonna do to me?"

"I do what I want to do! But, you'll live, that's what I can guarantee you with!"

I wanted to say something, but my mouth shut tight. To survive to return home, that was my goal. I didn't want to die in a foreign world. Finally, I thought of something I could talk about, "Why did you summon me here?"

"Ah, an interesting question! Allow me to answer you with a question, what kept you alive here?"

"I have my friends there to thank for!"

"Friends? Such fragile, weak thing you rely on. Your strength is what saved you in those dire circumstances!"

What he said moved me greatly. It was true, I had relied on myself ever since I got here. But, to sum it up, I couldn't have survived if Fagus hadn't intervened, I couldn't have beaten Gaul until I had received the power stored in his scepter. I tried to look strong, but deep inside, I still needed help.

"You have potential" he continued, "yet you're going to waste it by standing for those who mistreated you? I know you want power, I can provide you with that."

"黙れ (Dama re – Shut up)!" I decided not to hear anymore of his rambling, "They treated me unfairly, so what? Good deeds don't need reason! And I don't need your power! What I need is that you disappear from my sight!"

I threw a punch at him, before my fist reached its destination, a chain pierced my arm and held it there, and there was no blood at all. I didn't have time to to understand what was going on when more chains came from every direction and tied me up. I was like a fly entangled in a spider web, unable to budge an inch.

"Persistent as expected. I should've taken your body, but my condition wouldn't allow me to. So, make good use of him for me!"

"As you wish!"

From behind him, a figure stepped out. I couldn't believe in my eyes, standing next to him was… me. A copy of me, it looked pretty much identical, except for the yellow predator's eyes, everything on its body, the clothes, the skin, the hair… were purple, added an evil smile. The Dark Master left, just me and him.

"You're probably wondering what this place is and who I am. We're inside your mind, but it's mine now. I am a fragment from His will manifested. With your mind and body belong to me, thus concludes the ritual. Now, I'll let you become a spectator of my show."

He waved his hand, a small light appeared and grew. When having reached a certain size, it showed image of Gaul and his men standing around the altar.

"What you see here is your vision. Enjoy!" he laughed and disappeared.

Then, the vision raised a little bit, which meant I stood up. Even though that bastard took control of my body entirely, I could still feel its every movement.

I stepped down the altar's stone staircases, no longer chained. Gaul came to check me, he smiled satisfactorily. I greeted him with a smile, noticing that he had a metal eyepatch with a diamond at the center. Then he said something to one of his men and dismissed him. A couple of minutes later, he came back with two silver stemwares, then gave one to Gaul, one to me.

We stood facing each other, raised our stemware. "Let this day be a memorable one!" Gaul raised his voice, "Today, we welcome a new member into our family. His name is Hikari, my brother. May this bond forever be strong until the day we return to dust!"

We drank as all the apes there applauded. Before I drank, I noticed my face through the reflection on the beverage's surface, it had changed. My eyes became purple, the iris' width narrowed, fangs slightly protruded, several scales encircled the face. The hands had also changed, with some scales on the dorsum and nail replaced with talon. Along with the transformation, I felt more powerful, so much that I could move a mountain. I could feel the new energy running in my veins, so pure, yet so tainted.

There was a saying: To lose is to claim, and to claim is to lose. That day, I had power, I survived, but in return, I lost my self.


	6. Chapter 5

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS**

**Chapter****5****: ****The Midnight Raid**

With the newfound power, I sided with the Dark Army on every front. When Gaul was busy on one side, I took care of the other side. We always return victorious with a lot of war booties and a low rate of casualties. We easily replenished ourselves after each expedition and grew stronger in both power and expanded ouractive zone, occupied more areas and secured more resources. Side by side, Gaul and I dominated the battlefield, forcing the dragons and their allies to be in defensive state.

I guessed I should call that copy version "Double". It would make it easier to tell us apart. So, yes, Gaul and Double made a good pair. Anywhere they went to, victory was almost ascertained.

Through observation, I knew what my power was capable of. It was a rarely seen element among the dragons, an element so strong, yet so hard to master, gravity. Double sometime had trouble manipulating it, he usually came to see me to seek advice, but I always refused. I had to admit that he was pretty persevering, he tried to coax me, promised me many things in exchange for what I knew about gravity. Even when I showed disdain and sarcasm, he didn't get mad even once. Oddly enough, he possessed my mind, yet he couldn't exploit my knowledge. Such event made me couldn't help but giggling as I silently witnessed him struggling with the element. I would call this "cinema at home".

He managed to learn some tricks by himself, barely. In particular, he could increase the gravity around him within a specific area, pulling and pressing anything that dared to enter that active radius to the ground. That skill was very effective in protecting allies from projectiles and trapping enemies. Somehow, he learned to fly by altering the influence of the planet's gravity to make the body float, then directed force to create propulsion to move, but not so skillful. To be honest, he was quite good, wasn't he?

Then, a fateful day approached as both Double and Gaul were summoned by their Master for an emergency meeting. Gaul ordered everyone to dismiss, leaving only three of them in the chamber. They kneeled on one knee in front of the light. The eyes of the Dark Master emerged from within the light, coldly gazed at them.

"Long live to You, our Lord! Please tell us Your desires, we will realise them at once!"

"My loyal and faithful assistants, the day of my return is nigh. As I promised, I will build a new world free from those wretched dragons. But, there is one thing that worries me."

"What is it that could pose a hindrance to you, my Lord?" said Gaul.

"That thing got guts to stand in Your way, my Lord! Please tell us what it is, we will gladly remove it for you." Double continued.

"It's not a big deal," the Dark Master chuckled, "it's just an egg, but within it lies a powerful being: a purple dragon. It is being kept inside the Dragon Temple located in the southern marshland. Its presence itself is a threat to our plan. Therefore, I entrust you with the mission of exterminating that threat. Remember, exterminate it at all costs!"

"Yes! Your wish is our command!" They said in union.

On their way down from the mountain where the chamber situated, they mapped out their strategies and discussed every possible outcome. They were so focused that they didn't notice they had been in the training camp.

"Such coincidence!" Gaul said, "I will personally choose the best elite soldiers for this sortie. If you need anything, just tell me."

"When will we start?"

"At midnight. I can't wait to see their sleepy faces filled with astonishment when we attack!"

They both bursted into laughter, then he made an excuse to return to his room for preparation while Gaul selecting his men.

I called it a room, but to be precise, it was a small house built within their fortress. The lower ranked apes bowed in respect as Double walked past them to returned to the building. The interior was simple: a stone bed with a layer of straw and a blanket, a table next to it with dinner served and was still hot, a dragon skull hung opposite to the table, beneath it hung an axe and a big saber behind a round poorly-crafted shield.

This mission was very important since it would determine the future of the apes. He sat down and enjoyed the meal to get ready for long white night.

Despite the good taste of the dishes, I couldn't enjoy it at all. I had mentioned this before, although he was in charge, I could still feel my body, barely. By losing my body to Him, I had indirectly caused the death of so many lives. Yet, everything wasn't going to stop. Now I was given order to take away a life that, in a few more hours, wouldn't have even the slightest chance to see the sun nor the faces of its parents.

"Feeling guilty, aren't you?"Double appeared with a grin.

"お前 (Omae – You)…"

"Don't blame yourself like that! You'll get used to it soon!"

If it weren't for these chains keeping me at bay, I would probably have landed some kicks into his damn face.

A purple dragon, why had He ordered us to prevent only it from hatching? Could this one be some kind of special breed, or it might have some sort of special power? I didn't know anything.

I tried to remember the lesson: the relation between the dragon's color and their element. Purple, maybe it was darkness. But if it was, why would He fear what He was expert in? Psychic, perhaps? It could be, but as an element, there would always be counter measures against it, and it wasn't anything special either. Anyway, that dragon had to be extremely powerful and packed with unknown abilities, something that even the almighty Dark Master was afraid of and had to take precautions against it when it was still inside the egg.

When he finished his dinner, a messenger told him that Gaul was calling. Him immediately arrived at the rendezvous point.

A group of fifteen bats, each with tworiders on their back, except the one in the lead, on which Gaul was mounting. He waved his hand as he saw him.

"Hikari! We will share this ride!" He still called my double using my name, how annoying.

When Double had climbed on, he gave command to his men, "Alright, everyone! This is a vital mission, failure is not an option! We will infiltrate their temple, destroy the egg, then retreat! We have to make it fast so that their reinforcement will not have time to come! Now grab the explosive and lift off!"

They let out a battle cry, then control their mounts to carry the containers filled with explosives. They took off and form a V formation.

The night was cloudy, no stars nor the moon could be seen. Thus, navigation was very difficult. But animal's ability in navigation was remarkable, the bats flew restlessly all night without any guidance from the mounters.

Despite the moonless night, my vision wasn't affected much, could it be another effect of the power I received? While pondering, Something from afar caught my attention. Light, they were entering an area with light. They had to raise their attitude unless they wanted to be spotted.

Still, that didn't pose a big deal. With bright light near the surface and the pitch dark sky above, the eyes couldn't adapt well to such contrast. Plus, their troop had dark colors that blended into the night. They had the element of surprise at their disposal, but it was better safe than sorry.

To my surprise, those lights on the surface, they came from… mushrooms. These mushrooms were so big, their cap's radius could reach up to 13 feet, and they were as tall a a century-old tree in my world. There were smaller ones, but still big. Most of them generated light, the taller ones gave out bright yellow light, and the smaller with a weaker mystique purplish light. The light came from the underside of the cap, making them look like giant lamps. If looked closely, from within the light filled area, one could see glitters falling down like snow. Such a magnificence nature had to offer.

The group soared silently in the night, luckily aided by following wind, they flew faster. Soon, something came into vision. In front of us, on a steep cliff, a large building situated on top of it. It had a square structure with a dome at the center, a big round balcony stretched out from the cliff, connected to the building by a passageway with an arch on each end, behind it was a forest of mushrooms. It was the Dragon Temple.

"On my mark…" Gaul ordered, "Drop 'em!"

The bombs fell down and exploded, creating a massive display of light, fire, smoke, and flying debris. Despite the explosions, the temple was only damaged a little. The roof, several sections of the wall were destroyed, the building remained stable. They left the dreadwings and infiltrated the building.

When they got inside, in the area beneath the dome, a big dragon statue stood on a pedestal. This statue had two horns bent sideways to the back, it was carved in a sitting posture, wearing a pendant inlaid with a topaz, its chest stuck out with pride, its wings slightly expanded like a cape, the head raised high with a confident look. Overall, the statue was imbued with majesty and a center of the whole room. It had to be a dragon of importance in their society.

"Leave this statue! Go find the egg!"

As they bursted their way to the door behind it, I knew I had underestimated this temple. Its interior was greater than what I had thought it was, lying hidden beneath the caps. They split out to find the egg. They discovered many other sections, some led to forest behind, some led underground. Then, Double stopped at a big circle door, Gaul was right behind. They set the explosive and bursted the door open.

Almost immediately after the bang, from within the dust yet to settle, pebbles, icicles, and lightning shot out at us, took out some of the apes. Double used gravity to make the projectiles off the mark while Gaul and his scepter handled the lightning.

Three dragons stepped out to confront them, one lightning, one ice, and one earth. They took their battle stance, snarling at them. Their noses spurted out small currents of their elements, threatened to attack if they dared to take half a step step closer.

Gaul observed them thoroughly, "Where is he?" he asked.

"It's none of your concern!" the green one replied with a baritone voice.

"Then," Gaul turned at Double, "I leave the exterior to you, brother!"

"Heh, you got it!"

The lightning dragon quickly sprinted into action, "Not so fast!" He shot at Double streams of lightning. Gaul quickly covered him, shielding themselves with an energy barrier. The lightning ricocheted off to many directions, they suffered more casualties because of those shots. The ice and earth dragons advanced as well, sending shockwaves and blizzard at us. Gaul had to grab Double and threw him out of the room, then blocked the entrance with an elemental wall.

Double didn't waste a single second, he headed out of the temple and started searching for the other dragon. Flames lit up in the sky marked the spot. A fire dragon with one of its foreleg holding something wrapped in a piece of garment. It was struggling fending off a group of dreadwings. The fire dragon was really powerful as it outmaneuvered the bats and countered them with scorching fireballs and flames.

Double flew over him and forced him to lower his altitude with his gravity. The plan worked, with the bats distracting his attacks, Double had enough time to cast his pressure onto him. The fire dragon fell from the sky, he curled up, holding firmly to what he was trying to protect with his life. He made impact and bounced on the ground several times before coming to a halt.

A bat saw the opportunity and ram into his flank, the dragon had to let go of the object. It rolled, the garment loosened, and under the light of the mushrooms, a roundish shell emerged. The purple dragon egg.

Double landed next to it, he smirked as he raised a hand above the egg. He would use the pressure to smash it, and that meant another life killed by my hand. I couldn't stand to see it happened again, my hands had stained enough blood. And at this very moment, the memory of the little dragon returned, the one I had failed to protect.

Despaired, I cried out and, with all my strength, tried to wriggle and twist my body. The chains swayed and beaten against each other, resonating with my cries.

"Can't you be quiet for a while?" Double chid, "Guess I'll have to make you stay still!"

He clenched his hand, the coils tightened, so tight that it could threaten to tear me into pieces. I gather my diminishing strength, I cried one more time, a cry fueled with despair and dudgeon. At the same time, I swung my arms frantically. The chains broke, and like the domino effect, they shattered one after another like glass. I fell down, lying numb.

The thought of protecting the egg urged me to stand up once again. I got back on my feet, in front of me, Double was trembling, his eyes fixed onto me with great astonishment. Right then, I felt something surging through my soul, I didn't even give a damn. What I cared about was Double, who was within my range. Gritting my fist, I plunged at him. He could only shout "Impossible" as I threw the punch into his accursed face and knocked him back. He crawled up, trying to get back on. Before he could do, I added an uppercut, he fell flat on his back.

I waited for him to get up just to deliver him the final blow. He seemed shocked as he pointed at me, couldn't be able to utter a single word. I followed the direction of his finger and found out that something resembled a katana had manifested itself within my grip. Since when, I didn't care.

"W-w-wait! I h-have a proposal… just for you!" Double stuttered, "I know! Y-y-you want to return home, right? I can do that! I can tell my Master, then you can come home immediately!"

I didn't pay attention to a word he said, I just marched straight at him.

"Come on! This is your only chance! Don't you care about that Kōmyō girl you love?"

"ふっ潰す (Futtsubusu – I'll destroy you)!"

I had already come close enough, and his mention of Kōmyō made me even madder. I raised the sword and struck him without any mercy. Double's body split in two, he faded away with a scream. It was that moment I allowed myself to collapse, but things out there weren't done yet. I need to find a way to protect the egg.

Terrible enough, as I regained my consciousness, the egg had gone. I looked for it in when I saw it, it was drifting away in the river. It had propably rolled into the water during my struggle. Worse, it was really near the falss. Totally baffled, I rushed for the egg using gravity. How exasperating, I thought I was better than Double because I had seen him using it quite often. I never thought it would be this difficult, the consequence was a hard crash into a mushroom. Lucky for me that the trunk was soft, or else I was done for. Right when I barely managed to get a hold of how to maneuver, the egg fell off the edge.

By the time I arrived, it had disappeared into the mist and the effervescent water at the end of the falls. That falls had to be about ten meters in height. I dove into the water below, but my vision was greatly limited by the dark, the bubbles and the dirt mixed within the water. I rose up and tried to search for any trace of the egg, only to discover that the river broke into multiple branches not far away from the falls. Plus, the current was very torrential. Desperate, I flew back to the temple. If I went absent for too long, they might suspect me. I flew over the place where the skirmish had taken place. The fire dragon and the dreadwings were gone, only traces of the trampled soil remained.

I returned and saw that the electricity and ice dragons had been knocked out. The remaining dragon had put up an earth barrier, trapping all of the Dark Army and himself inside. Even Gaul had difficulty dealing with this one.

"Hikari!" cried Gaul.

I could only curse in my mind. In this situation, if I show my true self, I would be in big trouble. The dragons would probably find it hard to believe me with my horrible history, plus, the apes would hunt me down, and the worst case imagined was that I became their puppet again. Besides, now that I was free from manipulation, why not utilizing this opportunity to learn about their true plan. I was right inside their territory and they trusted me, gathering intel could never be this easy. That meant I had no other choice but to attack that dragon.

Without a word, I channeled energy into my palms. I suddenly transmitted a massive force onto the barrier, shattered it completely. After all, gravity was a type of force, attractive force, and the recent experiment had proven that I could create force that pulled or pushed, depending on how I wanted it to be.

Everyone stared at me in amazement and astonishment. I headed for the target to make them believe I was on their side. I sprung at the earth dragon, adding propulsion to quickly approach him in order not to let him have time to react. '_すまない__(Sumanai – Sorry)! __しばらく寝て欲しい__(Subaraku nete hoshī – I need you to sleep for a while)…'_. I acted upon him a great force, like bashing an invisible wall at him. He suffered the impact whole, got knocked back and smashed the door to the room he were protecting, completely blacked out.

"Alright, Gaul," I urged him, "we're outta here!"

"You got the egg, brother?"

"Yeah…"

"I knew I could count on you! Come inside, we're not done yet."

I had no choice but to follow him, then I understood what Gaul wanted to say. The room was filled with eggs, they laid peacefully on platforms stuck to the wall. The temperature here was warmer, probably adjusted for the eggs' development. To the far end stood a pedestal with a cushion on it. Looking at the dent on the cushion, one could guess what had been lying on it, the egg which was now resting in the falls.

The remaining apes spread out, intended to do what I feared they would. I immediately pushed one of them stuck flat onto the wall as it tried to break one.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

"Such a waste of time, Gaul! We did what we were told!"

"It could be fake!"

"Then, I presume you know what it looks like?"

Gaul could say anything about it. I explained to him how to know what dragon it was by the color of the shell. It was weird that he had lived here for a long time, yet he knew nothing about that.

"And you would let them multiply?" he still insisted to destroy the rest.

"As if they could!"

"What do you mean, brother?"

"I mean what I said! Look, Gaul, the only one that can pose a threat to our Master is gone! These eggs are nothing! Pretend that they hatch, will they be able to grow up before His arrival? Besides, instead of dirtying your hands with their yolk, why not turn them into slaves? You can play with them all you want. After all, having some pets around can cheer your days up!"

At least that was what I could come up with. Gaul grimaced, rubbing his chin. For several seconds later, the wrinkles on his forehead slowly stretched. "You know what, brother?" he turned at me, slightly nodding, "That's not a bad idea at all! Pet and slave, yes, they are more useful that way! You're a genius, Hikari! That's why I chose you as my brother!"

I was really worried that he wouldn't listen, but I was glad things turned out smoothly. What I didn't expect was the return of the fire dragon. He stared at his fallen comrade, then at us. I could see an endless rage igniting in his eyes. Gaul pulled out his scimitars, but I stretched my arm sideways to stop him, "Leave him to me! Get the mounts ready!"

With a groan, he drew in his weapons and left with his minions. Surely, the dragon had no intention to leave us be. He cladded himself in fire and launched at me. I immediately increased gravity, pulling the cracking ceiling onto him and blocked the door. Then I made my escape.

Overall, the mission wasn't quite successful. For the apes, the egg was gone, they lost more than half of their numbers, including the mounts, and Double. But for me, I managed to save the remaining eggs, at least.

The Dark Master didn't have even a wee bit of suspicion about me. He was flattered to hear our achievement. And, as I had expected, He handsomely rewarded us. Gaul received a new type of magic stored in his staff, he then became a more dangerous enemy of the dragons. About me, Master ordered a low rank ape to carry something hidden in a square piece of cloth. When I unveiled it, a chill ran through my body. Lying fittingly in its palms was a dragon egg. My hands was shaking a little as I reached out to receive it. I had to keep a fake happy face to avoid showing my anxiety because if I didn't, the consequence would be worse than just 'feels bad".

Leaving the chamber, my heart laden with worries and fears. Of course, those feelings were so well-hidden that Gaul had no idea about it. He congratulated me, saying that my wish just came true. I forced a laughter in return, then I just accelerated my pace back to my room.

I gathered twigs and straws to make a nest, added another layer of soft and cozy cloths I found in the room. I carefully placed the egg into the newly made nest, then stepped back a few paces to observe it.

The black lustrous shell sent back the light from the candle. It was so beautiful, like a well-polished onyx. Sometimes, I thought I heard something clawing onto the shell or saw the egg shook a little. I told myself that I had to be seeing and hearing stuff.

Back to reality, I felt like being ultimately deceived. I had never been informed about anything like this. Pondering about why they had done this wouldn't change anything. I could abandon it, it was a dragon, it had nothing to do with me. But I just couldn't. Right then, a life was in my hands, and I had no intention of going against my code. But keeping it meant a lot of troubles in the future.

I sat down on the bed, looking at the egg and asked a question that I knew I would never receive an answer, "どうすればいい (Dousureba ī – What should I do)?"


	7. Chapter 6

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS**

**Chapter 6: A Fairy of the Night**

After a whole blank night wrestling with my conscience, I couldn't decide anything at all. Tiredness weighed down on my eyelids, I sighed and threw myself down on the bed. My first thoughts when I slowly fell asleep were the parents of the egg. We were in the middle of the war, there was no guarantee that its parents were still alive. Supposed they were , would they be able to recognize their offspring? They might even be separated, or were wandering the far away lands.

Speaking of day and night, there was no damn way to tell them apart here. The sky was always filled with eerie purple clouds. Sometimes, lightnings reaped through the clouds like multiple-head serpents thriving in the ocean, silently struck their inattentive preys. How silly of me to even mention such a thing. With the clouds screening the sun, the weather here was pretty capricious, mainly wind, rain, and snow. Never imagined that the apes would call it home here.

Outside, the blizzard was howling. The nest wasn't so far away, I reached my hand to check. The cold from the shell wiped away my sleepiness almost instantly. No sunlight meant no warmth, which was a critical strike for the hatching process. And surely, some flickering candles couldn't handle such chill.

I bounced out of the bed and rushed to find any possible heat source. Torch could be a good idea, but it required a stand, and I needed more than just one. A campfire should be fine, it could withstand the howling wind and was easy to control. Shortly after, I was able to lit up a small campfire in the room with the materials found around the base and my knowledges. I had no idea who had made this cottage, not a single casement installed. The damn turbulent wind and snow freely entered this place. As a last resort, I sat crossing my legs by the fire, holding the egg close to me, both were covered by a blanket. I left a small gap enough to expose the egg to the heat source. That way, I could keep both of us warm. And when everything was in place, the dust of Sandman struck again. My head bent down and I slept immediately.

In the silence of the dark, I was awoken by strange sounds like someone was knocking their nails against a piece of wood. I muttered grumblingly, one of the things I hated the most was being woken up in the middle of a nap. Outside, the blizzard had already died down. Finally, the weather gave me a break. I looked around, the candles had been put out, the campfire was just a small flickering flame dancing in the midst of the ember.

The whole room was dark, but the sound kept coming, like trying to whisper something. I yawned and stretched myself, feeling quite "kimochi" after being able to take a short nap. I must admit, the blanket was so cozy I forgot the cold out there. And the egg was rolling away from me. Yes, it was rolling…wait… What!?

The egg was rolling on its own around the room! As it did, it emitted cracking and chittering sounds. This moment came way too soon, I didn't have even the slightest expectation or preparation for this. In any case, I had to keep it still. Accidentally or intentionally, it started to roll its way to the door and exited the room.

I threw my blanket aside and rushed for it for all I was worth. My building was near a gentle slope, and the egg rolled right down. Chasing after a round object on the go down a slope was definitely a terrible idea, so flying was my only solution, and it wasn't a good one either. It took a lot of efforts to keep myself levitating and to move at the same time.

The egg rolled and rolled, sometimes bounced a little on the soft mattress of snow. Now was the hard part, I had to channel my power to pull it back, which meant focusing on three tasks at once. The moving target made matters worse. I tried to lock on it, then pulled. A perfect hit, the egg was yanked right back, but along with it was a mass of snow coming straight at my eyes and into my nostrils. I lost control and fell, tumbled all the way to the wall of the fortress. And so, we had another competitor entering the the rolling contest, how nice!

I hit the finish line first by crashing my back to the cold wooden wall, well, in an up-side-down posture. The impact sent vibrations to the thin cornice above and a block of snow fell down on me, cover me entirely. Lucky enough , the egg was right after me. I didn't even have to get out of the snow pile or clear my vision to catch it. All I had to do was to reach out and grab it. Easy, eh? I stood up and stretched, twisted my body a bit. The crash was hard and dangerous for a normal human, but did little damage to me. I wondered if I was still a human.

Oh, how fate loved to toy with me. Another blizzard rose without any forewarning, I turned my back to the wind's direction to shield the egg from the shearing cold of the arctic region and made my way home. Finally, I entered the room, shivering. I put the egg to its nest and checked. It was still trying to break the shell after that long snow wallow. Such a surprise, but still a relief.

Seeing it struggling, I thought of giving it a head boost, but no, it had to get out by itself, because that was the rule of nature and survival. I lit the fire up, then silently observed the process. The hatchling kept trying to break the shell. After ten minutes or more, the egg started to chip, then a crack could be seen getting wider. More chips fell down and revealed the soft membrane inside. That moment, a shiny blade tip punctured through. Yes, no doubt, it was a two-edged blade with a dent on one side. Weird… This blade wriggled a bit and retracted inside. This time, a tiny snout forced its way out of the crack. It babbled something, probably calling for its parents.

"来た、来た (Kita, kita – Here it comes)! ほら、がんばってね (Hora, ganbatte ne – Come on, give it your best)!" I whispered.

I shouldn't be cheering for it like this, but it didn't matter. I felt so thrilled and excited just like a kid waiting to open his present boxes. But these feelings were stronger, they weren't different much from those of the parents waiting for the birth of their child.

With a little effort, it managed to poke its little head out. In the light of the fire, its head appeared succulent due to a thin layer of yolk. It then opened its eyes, staring at me curiously. At first sight, I thought those were precious stones, the clear turquoise also made me remember the color of the sea where my village was. How nostalgic! It continued to call, forcing its forelegs out, and finally got out of the egg. Since its legs were not strong enough to support its own weight, it couldn't move properly. It didn't give up, it tried to stand up after each fall.

I was totally moved by the hatchling's will. I stretched my arms and caught it gently within my palms. It then stopped moving as I was holding it, but still stared at me with those beautiful innocent eyes. I took a piece of cloth to clean it from its yolk or else it would get cold. It laid docilely on my thighs as I cleaned it, seemingly content with the massage.

Now, I got a chance to inspect it carefully. It was a shadow dragon with shiny black scales, pinkish underbelly and wing membranes. Behind the head was six studs, and two others on the wing carpals. Even though it was a newborn, it was already as big as an average adult cat. And as I had mentioned, a blade grew from the tip of its tail, a silver tail-blade. It was sharp, too. Better found a way to teach it how to move carefully or it would damage surrounding things and, even worse, hurt itself.

After getting cleaned, it quickly clung onto my chest with its cute tiny paws, trying to tell me something. I didn't know anything until I heard rumblings. Its stomach was rumbling, which I found weird for reptiles. I coiled my fingers around its chest and lifted it up. Why? Checking the stomach, of course! Reptiles when hatched from their eggs still carried the yolk sac, which would last until the hatchlings could find their own food. And its belly didn't had the sac. Could it mean that it had already consumed all of its nutrients before hatching?

In any case, I had to feed it, and fast. Luckily, I still had some food left, unfortunately, it had all gone cold. I lit a candle, took a small chunk and kept it suspended above the fire. Then I cooled it down a bit before giving it to the hungry hatching. It swallowed the chunk whole, it was then I realized some of its teeth were just erupting, the rest were gums. Also, swallowing a food chunk without chewing could indeed be a serious problem, and my fear just turned out real when the dragonling showed sign of being choked. I had to pat on its back until it could be able to spit it out.

Well, it was also my fault for being careless. I should have cut the chunk into smaller pieces, but how to when there was literally nothing to help with it. It was then a thought went through my mind. It was a little disgusting, yeah, just a little, but it would do the trick. "やうしかない (Yaru shikanai – I don't have a choice)! 行くぜ (Ikuze – Here goes)!" I took another chunk and started to chew till I thought it was soft enough, then spat the food ball in the palm and gave it to the baby again. This time, it approached cautiously, sniffed, and gave it a bite. It kept going until there was not even a tiniest bit left. I continued the process about two more times, and its belly was stuffed.

I carried it in my arms and massaged the back until it burped. The baby then nuzzled my chest with its teeny-weeny snout. How kawaii could it be! Oh, it yawned! Well, it was time for bed after the meal, anyway. And so, we both got on our bed. It snuggled close to my chest, curled up and within a short time, started to snore.

Seeing its body slowly heaved as it breathed soundly in its sleep set my mind at peace. This was also the first time I had such indescribable feelings. At first, one could say that I was raising a baby. True, everything I had done so far wasn't any different from my world. But, to be precise, I was raising, no, nursing a baby dragon! How crazy was it, nursing a creature thought to exist in fantasy world! Then again, I had to keep it. It needed a caring hand, and I bet no ape in this base had what it took to do this.

"Who's there?" my senses told me someone was in front of the door.

"It's me, sir Hikari! The one who brought you the egg. I had order to come to check it."

"Ah, it's you! Come in, then!"

The ape entered the room, he was surprised with the sleeping hatchling.

"It… it hatched already?"

"Yup! Not long ago."

"Can I…"

"Be my guest!"

He carefully turned the dragon so as not to wake it up. He observed it for a while, then smiled at me. "It's a girl, sir! And she's in good condition!"

"How did you know?"

"Apparently, their gender can be told apart when they're still in the egg by their temperature. Also, please look at the wrinkles on her chest and belly. Female dragons have curved lines, while the males have straight ones."

Wow, just wow! I just learned another interesting fact about dragon. As a matter of fact, these wrinkles had hyperbolic appearance. The first two lines on her chest had their arches face at each other.

But something wasn't right. Why would they order this guy to check the egg? I meant, they didn't give a damn about dragons, so their care for this young one made me couldn't help wondering. I waited for him to get out of my room, then I slowly, carefully left the bed, tiptoeing to the door. She was still fast asleep, that was good enough. I marched straight to the chamber on the mountain summit. The door guards saluted as I approached, "Greetings, sir Hikari! How can we help you?"

"I demand an audience with Master at once!"

"I am very sorry, sir! Our lord, Gaul, is having an audience with Master right now."

"Then, I'll wait for my turn!"

As my speech just came to a finish, the gate creaked into motion and Gaul's massive body appeared behind it.

"Hikari? Why, Master is expecting you, brother! It's about the egg!"

"Such coincidence! I came for that one reason, too!"

"Then hurry up, He's waiting!"

I entered the chamber, performed all necessary formalities as usual.

"I heard she hatched successfully." He spoke, "Congratulations, Hikari! I myself didn't think it would make it in such weather!"

"This one don't deserve Your compliment. This one really appreciate your gift, Master!"

"It's a gift, indeed! But, it's also a task."

"What would you like me to do with it, Master?"

"Raise it, obviously! It was chosen for my return, because only a dragon can enter the prison where I was being held. And with your new task, you won't be able to join the battlefield like before. You can still do whenever possible, but the hatchling is your top priority. I entrust it in your care!"

"Yes, Master! Your wish is my command!"

The Dark Master would never do anything without a proper reason, and this time He involved a hatchling. I felt sorry for the girl, and despised myself for not being able to do anything. Getting stuck between the crossfire, I had no other choice but to keep her with me. Simply because, one, returning her to the city was impossible with the war still raging out there and her parents' whereabouts were still shrouded in mystery, chances were she couldn't survive, and Master would know I was no longer under His control; second, the most dangerous place for a dragon turned out to be the safest.

I came home and saw that the little dragon was sitting in front of the door like a puppy waiting for her master to return. When she saw me, she wagged her tail and tried to get to me but got stuck in the snow instead. Her silliness made me couldn't hold a giggle. I picked her up and brought her back in. We settled down on the bed, then she started to frolic in the straw while I sat and let myself fall into a stupor. A bunch of questions popped up in my head, no answer corresponded to any of them. My life was just miserable enough, then I was forced to take in a baby dragon. What other kind of burdens did fate have in stock for me?

I thought about Kōmyō, of all the people I had known, she was the one who worried about me the most. Yes, in times like this, she would be around cheering me up, and we would talk for hours. We were literally inseparable, until now. She was probably crying at the moment. I wished I could have been there and had told her that I was fine, that I was sorry for making her worry all the time.

The dragon came to me and nibbled my fingers, wanting to play with me. I petted her head and said: "Sorry, dear. I'm not in any mood to play with you now."

She stopped nibbling and jumped out of bed. When had her legs become strong, well, that didn't matter. She could play in the room, just not going out in the snow.

"おい、待って (Oi, matte – Hey, wait)! ダメよ (Dame yo – You can't)!"

She ran outside. Great! Of all things she could do! I ran after her, calling: "待って (Stop)! ちび (Chibi – Little)…"

I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence. Something was missing. Her name, up till now I hadn't named her yet. Alright, stay cool, Hikari! For a dragon, an intelligent and wise creature, you couldn't just choose a random name like you did with pets. Speaking of which, I myself was also seeing her as a pet! What an asshole, I just went against what I had said, about how respectful I should be toward dragons. A foreign name, huh? Let's go with Night, maybe not, it was too common. Umbra? Nope! That didn't sound good. And so, five minutes had passed and I couldn't get any good name for her. I took a peek at the little dragon playing in the snow. Such contrast in her colors caught my attention. They made me imagine the dying flame of the campfire last night. Without any hesitation, I picked her up and held her high: "ここから、君の名前は… シンダー (Koko kara, kimi no namae wa… Shindā – From now on, your name will be… Cynder)!"

Upon hearing "Cynder", the little dragon tilted her head a bit, "Cyn… der?"

Did she just repeat her name? So fast! She could learn to talk in such a short time. Could this be one of the abilities dragons possessed?

"そう、シンダー (Sou, Shindā - That's right, Cynder)!"

"Cynder!" she shouted out loud her name with a big smiled. She was really happy with it and continued to say it over and over again. About me, I was dumbstruck at such expression, her smile… looked just like Kōmyō's. An innocent and beautiful smile. The bright smile that eased the pain inside me and dispelled the cloud of loneliness around me.

It was that moment, I knew I could never turn my back on her anymore. Every creature deserved to live, to love and be loved. Nursing a dragon? No problems! I was good in improvising, anyway. There was no way I would let this be a hindrance to me!

From that moment, my life jump to a new page. We soon became a well known pair among the apes. With my duty reduced to taking care of Cynder, I had time to find out more about the life of the apes. Cynder quickly made friends with other young apes, and while they were playing, I took my time building relationships with other individuals. At first, they were kinda surprised to see me this frequently, it was only natural since I had spent more time on the battlefield. They surprised me in return when they unhesitatingly accepted Cynder as part of their herd. With this new strategy I came up with, I easily won their respect and trust. Whenever they had problems and were afraid to speak with Gaul, a true tyranny figure, they sought for me.

But, overall, a fairy, dressed in black, was bestowed upon me. She cheered my gloomy days up with her smile, became a bridge that connected me with the apes, and most importantly, she gave me a reason to live on, to once again be able to protect what was right and just.

"ありがとう、シンダーちゃん (Arigatou, Cynder-chan – Thank you, Cynder)."


	8. Chapter 7

THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS

Chapter 7: You are not alone

Dragon Development Dairy, 3D in short:

-Hatchling had fully developed and had finished consuming the yolk sac before hatching.

-Be able to eat soft food after hatching.

-One hour old, be able to stand and walk on its own. Later on, be able to speak simple words.

-Two months old, all teeth (or fangs) fully erupted.

-One year old, grew bigger in size, studs started to grow longer.

-Two years old, be able to speak fluently (English, of course! You thought that I would teach her Japanese, huh?) and eager to learn new things, still getting bigger.

-Three years old, height: approximately 35 centimeters, wingspan grew, be able to glide for a short distance.

Three years already? Well, that was fast! And, guess what? I, no, we had earned a great achievement, the mutual faith of the apes! Imagine how surprised Gaul could be when he discovered that he was no longer an important character among his own kin. Contrary to his fist of blood and iron, I treated them with sympathy but still be able to maintain discipline and order, which was no easy feat. Everything was, to me, perfect, except these not very small problems.

"Good evening, uncle Hikari! I'm home!" said Cynder.

"Ah, Cynder, it's kinda late! Where have you been?"

"Um… just here and there, not very far away from here, I guess…"

"As a kid, you should not stay up this late! What if you got sick?"

"Uncle! I know how to take care of myself! Besides, I'm not very little now, am I?"

"*sigh* You're still very young, Cynder! You don't know what kind of danger is lurking out there. And you should better get proper sleep if you don't want to stay in bed for weeks! Anyway, I'll go reheat the food, so… What's that on your waist?"

"Oh, nothing, uncle! Just pay no mind about it!" she startled, turning her body to hide away some fresh scratches.

"Cynder!" I kept a firm voice, I knew too well what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into, but I still wanted her to speak it out, "What happened?"

I had probably spoken about this before in my bio so you would know what I was gonna mention. Yes, bullies! No matter what type of society, modern or savage, there always existed individuals that wanted to show supremacy over others by means of brawl, or brain, or… whatever they could use.

In this case, it had a specific reason. With Cynder being a dragon, a creature known as the apes' nemesis, even when I had explained that it was their Master's wish, some would showed disapproval, respectfully, of course. If the parents didn't agree, their children could also act the same, and sometimes they could even become extreme. Kids. But, even if they were kids, they would never get away with such behavior! Too violent, was I? Well, old habit died hard, they said!

Alright, back to the story! Cynder lowered her head and spoke with a tiny voice: "My group had a fight with the older ones."

"And what did you do?"

"I fought back, but I couldn't hold them for long. We had to hide until they went home."

"That's enough!" I immediately cut in, "I'll handle these naughty kids later. Come, let me tend your wound."

"Yes, uncle."

That was the first one, here was the next.

One time, Cynder returned home with a sad face, "I'm home, uncle." spoke Cynder with a heavy tone.

"Welcome home! What's the matter, dear? Got bullied again?"

"It's not like that…"

"Come here, Cynder." I held her in my arms and sat down on the bed. When we had both settled, I gently ran my fingers against her scaly head "Now, what has been troubling you, little one?"

"Will I grow up looking like you?" Cynder raised her head, so that our eyes met.

Her innocent and curious question was like a thousand needles stabbed into my soul. She didn't just question me about her origin, but also about me, as if I wasn't her family. Oh, how could I bare it to break her little heart with the cruel truth, but I couldn't think of any other answer or explanation for her. I would have to clarify this, that this wasn't the first time she questioned me about her origin. All I could do was to distract her with something interesting, or to tell lies about it, which I regretted later on.

"My dear," I spoke hesitantly, "right now, that doesn't matter! Just remember this, I am always here with you, so wipe those thoughts and cheer up! Now, let's go somewhere brighter and more peaceful, shall we?"

"Yes, uncle!"

…

Right, at this point, some might feel curious about why I let Cynder call me "uncle" but not "papa" or something similar. The first reason was because I was afraid. If I immediately established a relationship with such proximity, I didn't know what kind of trouble I would get myself involved in. The title "uncle" gave me enough space to observe things carefully while still be able to look after her. Second, well, I wasn't so sure about it, it was a hypothesis, but I couldn't denied its possibility. Maybe it was because I was, too, raised by my uncle.

To be able to hold my own ground for three years whole, you can imagine how exhausted I could be. Sometimes, I thought of giving up, then I thought about Cynder. Poor her! She came to this life not knowing who were her parents, the warm embrace of her family, a place to call home. In my opinion, at the very least, she didn't have to witness something so horrible like in my case. Oh, please don't get me wrong when I spoke of her parents as if they had already died. I myself did hope that one day, Cynder would be able to reunite with them. But for now, it was up to me to help her survive until then. The more I pitied her for the loss she was suffering, the stronger my indignation for the Dark Master and Gaul, the ones behind all these tragedies, grew. Those thoughts alone were the drive that helped me overcome many obstacles to bring her up til' today.

As you all know, what was done by night appeared by day. On one day, for unknown reasons, we lost a battle to capture an area with important strategic position (I had only been briefed about it, to be honest, I didn't know a freaking thing about that place and didn't even have time nor interest in learning about it). To me, that incident was only natural, but it was a humiliation to Gaul. Oh my gosh! He went crazy and flamed out on his crew fifteen minutes straight. If hadn't been there to calm him down with every reasonable reason I could think of, he would have likely eaten his soldiers alive. How tense!

I returned home, still mad because of Gaul's insults, and found that Cynder had been sitting on the bedside. I immediately knew something wrong had happened to her again.

"Uncle, you're back!" Cynder came to greet me with a faint smile.

"Good evening, Cynder. Have you been waiting long?"

"Not really… Uncle, I have something I need to ask."

"What is it, dear?"

"I have been wondering… Why do I look so different from the rest, even from you, uncle?"

"Cynder, dear. That doesn't mat-"

"IT DOES, uncle!" she suddenly snapped, "It really does! Every time I ask you, you never bothered to give me a proper answer! You just only gave excuses and then brushed it away! Don't you care about how it feels, when everyday the other apes would stare at me, whispering and giggling, even the adults wouldn't want me to be anywhere near them or their children! I could only bare playing with some of the younger ones, but the others still didn't leave me alone. I feel like I don't belong here."

"もういい (Mō ī – ENOUGH)!" I shouted, didn't realize I just used the mother language. "Cynder! I raised you, I gave you food, love, and a place you could call home. It doesn't matter whether I'm your real father, or your uncle, or not. I still care about you like my own, like a true parent would do!"

"If you truly care about me, then tell me the truth! Tell me what I really am!"

"…" so, everything had come down to this. To be honest, I had been mentally prepared, but this incident still caught me off guard.

"Fine! I'll tell you about who you really are! You belong to a species called dragon, almighty giant creatures that have lived for a long, long time, the keeper of wisdom and magic. Now, they are at war with the apes, and are facing the threat of extinction. With the war raging on out there and my lack of information about who your parents are and where they are. I can't risk endangering you by returning you to your kind. You're right! You don't belong here, and neither do I!"

"What do you mean, uncle?"

"Just like you, I was brought here… by malicious intention. I came here before you, of course. I did have my own plans to get myself out of this rotten place. But everything was ruined on the night the apes kidnapped you with me not knowing a single thing about that and forced me to raise you. Let's be frank, I could have abandoned you to ruin their plan, but that means taking your life. And I couldn't muster even the slightest courage to do so. I just couldn't…"

"You mean you're not one of them, and you're not my uncle either?"

"Sadly, no."

"I knew it…" she backed away from me, and quickly exited the house. And here I am, alone again in the gloomy room. Some said nature had her own soul, and it might be true, because it started to rain after Cynder had left. She was sympathizing with us.

About me, I didn't even think of going after her. She was totally in shock after hearing such a thing. Although we shared the same pain, I couldn't force my mature thoughts on her, she was just a kid, after all. Some time alone was the only way for her to calm down. I myself was also reaching my limits. True, both of us needed to be alone for a while.

Sitting in the dark and silence, I started questioning myself. I knew clearly that the truth could never be hidden, no matter how hard I tried. And yet, I still had a tendency to do so because I was afraid. It was my fault to begin with, after all. I should apologize to her, after she had calmed down.

Some time later, some voices reached my ears: "Sir Hikari! Sir Hikari!" Sounded like something urgent was going on. Later on, a bunch of kids barged into the room. Worry could be seen clearly on their faces.

"What's going on?"

"Is Cynder here, sir?" one asked.

"She acted strangely yesterday! She…" another one said.

"She kept shouting at us to leave her alone!" the third one jumped right in.

I immediately understood the situation. I rushed out and headed for the place I knew Cynder would probably have gone to. Not far away from the cold walls of the fortress was the edge of a forest. The inner edge was the location where Cynder and the young apes usually played. I knew that place too well since I was the one who had gone there to help them build a treehouse, which they called their secret castle. Not only that, I was also a designer of a little playground nearby. That place was a resort for the youngsters, but now, the whole place has been trashed, not a single object was in one piece. Let's say this place looked more like a junkyard. The treehouse seemed unscathed, that was until you saw the interior. A complete mess! Tables, chairs, toys… all scattered on the floor, damaged beyond recovery. The only clues were a knuckle guard dagger and strange footprints. There were more than just one attacker, I could tell. The footprints looked similar to those of the Cheetahs, but why would they wander into this area? Plus, I had never seen them using any kind of weapon like this.

I went to check the ground, and knew I was going the right way. The moisture forest floor after the rain made it easier since it saved the print of those scoundrels and pinpointed their direction. And so, I went deeper into the inner forest til' I hit a dead end at a lake. I was sure that they headed here, straight at the lake, but their traces suddenly disappeared. I also noticed that the leaves and twigs were blown away, leaving an area of bare soil which was suspiciously charred at the center. Only something that can emit strong wind and heat could do this. I remembered one of Sherlock Holmes' quotes: "When you have excluded the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." The two clues above made me imagine a flying machine, just not sure how it looked like. It was clear that the Cheetahs had been excluded from the list of suspects.

It really makes sense, only when flying can the kidnappers lose those who tried to tail them on land, but not ME! I took off into the air and aimed for the direction I thought they would go. I flew higher to the point where I felt a little hard to breathe. Keeping that altitude, I started searching for any suspicious movement around me.

I found myself heading toward a massive gorge with a stream running along its bottom. The gorge split into many directions when looking from above, like a labyrinth, with steep gray rocky cliffs, threatened to fall down at any time. A wisp of morning fog covered the whole place, making it look more mystical and spookier. I chose to fly above it, because I thought they had gone past this place. Moreover, I had no idea how fast that thing was.

"Uncle Hikari!"

Wait, that voice! It's Cynder! The kidnappers were still somewhere in the gorge. But I couldn't navigate it, the voice was low and the echoes didn't make it any better. I stopped and dove into the sea of mist, focusing everything into hearing. Come on, Cynder, just do it again! Cry out once more!

Again, her voice came to me, and this time, I knew where she was. The voice came to my left ear first, there, I saw the cliffs where the narrow valley ran between. With no further ado, I entered the valley. There was a black figure which looked like a ship levitating near a cliff. When I got close enough, I was completely surprised and awestruck. It was a flying one-masted brigantine and was anchoring peacefully near a cliff. Approaching it fast from behind, I noticed its propulsors, the only thing whose jet stream could create that charring mark I had seen. The only thing that came to my mind was 海賊 (kaizoku – pirate).

The third cry echoed throughout the valley, and could be last. I quickly compressed force into a sphere and sent it at the ship's rear. Upon contact, the sphere exploded, creating a hole through which I infiltrated the ship. Cynder was lying on the wooden floor, full of injuries. In front of her stood a big red scorpion with yellow stripes and a huge pair of mandibles, the biggest I had ever seen. Its length alone, excluding the tail and pincers, was approximate my height. It raised its tail high, a tail with a cannon at the tip instead of a stinger, readied to deliver a point blank strike. As I entered the ship at high velocity, I found myself between the creature and Cynder, in the line of the attack. I hurriedly casted a shield, but it was weak due to my inexperience of creating one and the lack of time, the cannon went through it and jammed straight onto my chest.

"Uncle!" Cynder cried as I coughed out blood. The makeshift shield did reduce the force, but it still hurt.

"よく頑張ってね、シンだーちゃん (Yoku ganbatte ne, Shindā-chan – You did well, Cynder). 後は… 任せて (Ato wa… makasete – Leave the rest… to me)!" The scorpion retracted its tail for another attack. Since it changed its target, I could easily draw it away from Cynder. I took out a red crystal and smashed it. The fragments reacted to my wound, they flew at my chest and dissolved themselves to heal me. Although not completely healed, but its pain-killing effect gave me just what I needed.

The scorpion attacked again with its tail, but I quickly closed in. I was quite careless to underestimate its reflection speed. It immediately grabbed me with its pincer. I could barely block the grip as it attacked with the other claw. I quickly generated force beneath me and launched into the air, pulling the pincer along since I haven't let go of it. The jump had enough momentum for me to do a front flip and swung the creature up before hurling it down. A crash falling, but not so effective with its external skeleton. It then used its cannon but landed a miss shot and damaged the ship. I noticed the hammer flipped to the back and the cannon was loaded. Instead of stinger and venom, the scorpion had had its weapons replaced with cannon and built in magazine. To add more trouble, the crew showed themselves. They had doggie-liked faces, tongue that stuck out, they only wore red-and-white-stripe tapering pants, and daggers identical to the one I had found. Behind them was a taller one wielding a cutlass. It seemed common in this world that the leaders were always bigger than the rest.

I quickly grabbed Cynder and made my escape. "Uncle…" sobbed Cynder.

"Hush. I'm here. Let me treat you."

"Uncle, I'm sorry for running away! Now, you got hurt because of me!"

"That doesn't matter! You're safe, that's what I care about!"

"Look out!"

I didn't have time to look at the direction Cynder was pointing when I got struck on the back out of the blue. I lost balance and fell, dropping a red crystal before I could use it. I curled up to keep Cynder safe from the fall, but upon the impact, we were separated. After a long skid, I got up to see Cynder lying unconsciously not far away. The attackers made their appearance from the sky. Three crimson birds with prehensile claws on wing joints and long tail. They circle above us, waiting to strike again.

Enraged, I held down my pain and stood up. A bird dove on me with its talons opened wide. I pulled it at me and, in the meantime, charging my other hand with compressed force. The bird was caught in the current and had its skull smashed by a punch full of pressure. The other two form a pincer attack, charging at me from both sides. When they came close enough, I suddenly emitted a strong propulsion in all direction. The invisible wall of force knocked them back and dazed them. I took the dagger to cut one's throat. Seeing that the last one was trying to get away, I threw the dagger above it and increased gravity to drag it down, pinning the lousy bird on the spot.

It wasn't over yet. The ship followed right after, with its cannons loaded. I closed my eyes, transferred every last bit of my energy into my palms, bending gravity in the process. They fired their cannons, but the projectiles were all deflected before they could reach me. When I peeked at the final attack I was preparing, astonishment shrouded my mind. I was holding a black orb as big as a soccer ball. Its gravity was so strong it bent the space around it and altered the course of any incoming cannonball. A mini black hole. I was intended to create the last force sphere, but ended up creating this! Well, here goes nothing!

"沈める、そして消える (Shizumeru, soshite kieru – Sink and vanish)!" I launched the black hole at them, and it started devouring the ship along with the crew, bit by bit. If they abandoned their ship, they would have to face a long fall down to the bottom of the valley. Either way, they would die, and as they say: "A good captain sinks with his ship!"

The black hole sucked up the brigantine, leaving behind nothing, not even a survivor, then disappeared as well after having consumed all of its energy. I collapsed on my knees, panting a lot. I couldn't walk, too exhausted to do so. And so, I crawled to Cynder's side. I pressed my ear again her chest. The heartbeat was getting weak. I took out the last crystal to smash it. But I had no power to do that anymore, my hand was shaking just only to maintain a firm grip. I didn't know what to do when Cynder placed her paw on my hand. "Uncle," she said with a weak tone, "am I… a burden for you?"

The question shocked me, she continued, "Because of me… that you stuck here…"

"バカを言うな (Baka o iu na - Don't say stupid thing)! I took you in devotedly, I even raised you like one of my own. And I said I would never abandon you! So, please, have faith in me!"

"I always do, uncle. You always showed up… whenever I called. I believe in you."

"If so, then wait a little more! I'll have your wounds tended!" I started smacking the crystal against the ground.

"The time we spent together… it was fun… and happy…"

"No! Cynder! Stay with me, okay? Look at me! Don't close your eyes!" I kept smacking frantically. The crystal started cracking. Just a little more!

"Thank you, uncle… Hikari… for everything… I… love you…" her paw fell to the ground, as she closed her eyes.

"Cynder! Nooo!"

I was so close to breaking it! Curse you, you stupid crystal! Cynder's words tore my heart into millions pieces. What pain could be greater than the pain of witnessing the death of the one you love and care for the most. I had promised myself that I would protect her, yet I couldn't be at her side when she was in danger. What kind of moron am I, can't even keep a promise? I would never forgive myself if I failed to save her!

With a series of cries, I smacked as if my life depended on it. "壊る (Kowa ru – Break)! 壊る! 壊る!"

Finally, it shattered into pieces, I quickly gathered all the shards, placed them near Cynder's body. "急いで癒す (Isoide iyasu – Hurry and heal her)…" My last effort drained me of my remaining stamina. I collapsed and fell into a coma.

When I woke up, the sun was on its way down to the horizon. Looking at Cynder, all the pieces of the crystal were gone and her wounds were sound. "よかった、間に合た (Yokatta, maniata – What a relief, I made it in time)!"

"What did you say, uncle Hikari? I don't understand anything!"

"Ah! About that… Never mind! Let's find something to eat first, then I will explain later!"

My power had recovered, enough to get ourselves out of the gorge and find food. I suddenly realized a chance right in front of my nose, an escape from the Dark Master. I did mention the difficulties I would face if I dared to run away, but that's different now. I wasn't alone, and I got the power I needed to protect all that I held dear in my heart.

I took Cynder in my arms and took flight, as far away from that place as possible. Until I ran out of energy, I landed and strode the land. It was dark, the clear sky filled with moonlight and twinkling stars showed me the way. I kept going, carrying Cynder in my arms.

"Where are we going, uncle Hikari?"

"To a place where we can call home, dear. It's about time we leave those bad days behind."

"Do you know that place?"

"We'll know when we get there." I replied with confidence, in spite of the fact that I had no idea where we would go. "Cynder, I have something to tell you."

"What is it, uncle?"

What to say? I don't want to make her feel sad again, but if I didn't say it out, it would be like fire burning my soul. "Ahem! Cynder, I… to be honest, I don't know your parents, how they look like, where they are, and whether they're alive or not. I can't promise to help you reunite with them, not even with your dragon kin or any of their allies. I did promise to keep you by my side, but now, nothing can stop us anymore. Base on the previous promise, I will… what's the appropriate word in this case? Reinforce? Argh! Curse my lack of English vocabulary!"

"What do you mean, uncle?" she smiled confusingly.

"To be frank, I can't promise you anything other than… a family!"

"A family?"

"Yes! You and me!"

"I don't know, uncle." she seemed embarrassed, "To me, family is like the apes I saw back there. They have parents, the ones who gave birth to them and raised them. I felt so envious with them."

"My dear, family isn't just about parents, siblings, and relatives, but it's also all those who care about you and love you from the bottom of their heart, those who would eagerly welcome you and support you. They would be happy to play the role of a family member of yours if you like. Don't be shy, Cynder, it's very normal!"

"That means, I can call you…"

"Yes, anytime you want, dear!"

She stared at me, teardrops slowly rolled down her cheeks. She pressed her head against my chest and bursted out crying in great emotion, for I had released her from the misery she had been suffering. Yes, cry, Cynder, to your heart's content. Let those tear wipe away your pain, your sorrow, then you can stand up once again, stronger than before. She cried and cried, and then fell asleep due to tiredness.

Carrying the little dragon, I marched, marched, and marched. Headed straight, no looking back. To destinations unknown might my footsteps guide me. I looked at the sky, there were two moons. Their silver light rained down on the path I was marching on. Then, I looked at Cynder, sleeping so soundly. Her black scales, bathed in the moonlight, became indescribably beautiful. Could this be the beauty only the shadow dragons possess, or should I say they are the most magnificent dragons under the moon? It's the same either way. To me, Cynder was quite an exquisite dragon. I bowed down a bit, softly placed a kiss on her forehead, whispering: "おやすみ、私の小さな… 娘ちゃん (Oyasumi, watashi no chīsana… musume-chan – Goodnight… my little daughter)."

Fun fact: Correctly, I must call her 義理の娘 (giri no musume – daughter-in-law). But to me there is no boundaries in the love you spend for the people you truly care for. Won't you agree?


	9. Chapter 8

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS**

**Chapter**** 8****: ****Hope and Despair**

"くらえ (Kurae – Take this)!"

Cynder hurled her blade at me, which I parry with a hard stick with relative ease.

"やるじゃねか、もっと早く (Yarujaneka, motto hayaku – Not bad, faster)!"

We've been sparring for at least ten minutes now, Cynder showed quite talented with her weapons, especially her tail. Fighting against her was like dealing with not one, but two opponents at once. She has never beaten me, according to the records, but it seemed she was likely gonna beat the shit out of me this time!

While blocking her consecutive attacks, I slightly stripped. She saw the opportunity and cladded her talons in shadow energy, then launched at me with everything she had for a final strike.

"なんてね (Nante ne – Just kidding)!"

I was quick to dodge her and hit her on the back. She fell down but immediately made an attempt to stand up, well, only to see the stick's tip pointing at her face.

"Checkmate!" I poked her little snout.

"Aww! Not again! One more time, please!" she pleaded.

"Maybe next time. For now, let's just call it a day, Cynder! You fought well!"

"But I still lost."

"True, but looking at the bright side, no dragons at your age can hold their ground for at least half a minute. I'm telling you this so that you can try harder to figure out how to defeat me next time, not slacking off!"

"はい、お父さん (Hai, otō-san – Yes, father)!"

"Now then, who wants berries salad?"

"Me, me!"

I had to admit that Cynder had made such progress on the path of the blade, but it was still a long way to go for her to catch up to me. Speaking of which, I have let you guys know that we had settled in a beautiful small valley untouched by civilization, and of course, neither the Dark Army. We had been lucky to find a cave with lake view to call home, for the time being. Not that we hadn't stopped at several places to take a rest after a long trip. Sheer mountain cliffs, next to a stream, in a random deserted cave, under a dried tree in a barren land,… anywhere I found fit for a short stay. Ever since we left the lair, the Dark Army has been searching high and low for us. Sometimes, I thought they got us, but my survival instinct kicked in, and we survived.

I had developed a habit of not stay in one place for more than a day. But recently, I found it unnecessary. The valley where we stayed was well hidden thanks to the special terrain that covered it. The chilling wind blew down on the other side of the mountains prevented any intention of passing them to enter the valley, on one side, a misty forest protected this place, causing anyone who entered it to go astray and could never find their goal. For those who passed the trial of nature, this valley was the trophy. The food source here was profuse, the water was clean, the nature's beauty was preserved to its finest. Also, it was within this vale, for the first time, I could have a deep straight sleep with my daughter, completely rid of worries. Still, I would always check to see if there were any signs of enemies, in the morning and before going to bed. Safety is still my top priority.

From then on, I took my time teaching Cynder about life, the art of self-defense, her language, excluding their script! In case you want to know, they're a bunch of symbols, despite the fact that both languages have the same pronunciation! And, by chance, she learned my language as well. What can I say? Children learn from their parents!

Alright, I'm kidding! Actually, there was a ridiculous reason to this. One day, she walked up to me and asked me to teach her the language. I refused, she coddled herself, I still refused. Cynder used Baby-Doll Eyes, and it's SUPER EFFECTIVE!

Oh, I almost forgot! I just added some new entries into my 3D, let me show you!

The tail blade grows a bit longer in response to the growth of body.

Be able to use shadow breath at the age of four and some skill related to shadow.

That's right, you're not mistaking, she's four now, which means we have been living here for a year. This place was so peaceful and tranquil, we wanted to stay here forever. But honestly speaking, one day, we would have to move. Despite how untouched this valley was, I wasn't so sure if it could still be able to hide us here. I mean, it was too quiet, and that troubled me.

Even being on an exile, I have never missed a chance just to help them learn about the enemy's activities like I had done while staying in the enemy's lair. Usually, about three times a week, I would sneak away in the middle of the night, flew to the rendezvous point where I met Fagus and exchanged intel. In return, he sometimes provided me with supplies and news from the council.

And that linked everything up. The Apes losing some battles was because of me, who had leaked information to the Alliance Force – the dragon army and their allies, how I had learned to use spirit gems, the authority of keeping Cynder, etc. And Fagus himself was a great help when he took responsibility in mending the trust between me and the rest. I could never tell how deep I was in his debt.

Tonight, I did the same thing as usual, but it was going to be the last night I and Cynder slept here. I carefully packed everything and headed to the arrangement point, leaving Cynder in the cave. It was cloudy, which was an advantage in the dark. I had to hurry so that I could return when she got up. I flew over the mountain quite easily with the help from the current, through a prairie and into the woods. I landed near a stump on a small mound and sat down. I opened a small box, a faint scent emitted and quickly blended into the wind. A scent that resembled that of the grass, the wild flowers in the meadow.

The sky was still cloudy, I changed my pose, from sitting to kneeling on one knee. Usually, Fagus himself would come right away because he chose a spot where he could detect the scent almost instantly after I had released it. Ten minutes has passed, I waited patiently, focus my enhanced vision and hearing, but it seemed only the whispers of the branches and the noisy pests responded. What's going on?

Suddenly, I heard rustling, then some footsteps. The sound indicated that there was only one creature, and it was coming in fast. It could be Fagus, or the enemy. Nothing's for sure. I lowered myself to blend into the shadow and prepare a force sphere. The target was coming from behind the bush I was facing, just a little bit more…

"Psst! Hikari, it's me!" the target whispered.

"This voice… Leo? Where's Fagus?"

"He's having a meeting with other tribe leaders right now, so I came in his stead."

"And the enemies?"

"Nowhere around right now, at least… It was hard getting here, ya know? I almost ran into them patrols, but thanks to Fagus' instruction, I snuck through! So, anything new?"

"I'm afraid no! Recently, they have been holding their position. As far as I know, in such circumstance, it's best we raise our defense. The first one to move loses the game."

"Hmph, as expected…"

"It seems both side is focusing on gathering more resources."

"I can't agree with you more! The war has depleted us almost of everything!"

"Ahem! Anyway, do you bring what I ordered?"

"Oh, this?" Leo took out a small bundle and gave it to me, emphasizing the following sentence "I must demand you to make it up to us after everything is done!"

"へえ (Hee – Huh)?"

"Don't 'huh' me!" he snapped "Have you any idea of what l and Fagus have been through just because of this shit? Everyone thought we were fucking crazy when we asked for such an object at such time! Really, I didn't get why Fagus even approved that kind of request from you!"

Despite speaking with a low voice, Leo's scold was obviously filled with indignation. Well, I really deserved it. What I had ordered was… a piece of jewelry. For whom, and why? Frankly speaking, it was meant to be a special surprise gift for Cynder, a birthday gift. Ever since I took her in, I have been nourishing a dream of offering her a joy that exists only in a family, one that she would never forget. I'd raked my brain to think of a decent present, but nothing beat jewelry at this point. This was a gift with a lovely and unique meaning in this world. Yeah, I know I own you guys an explanation. Actually, I took the day when she hatched as her day of birth, since I knew not when her egg had been laid. I asked the time of the raid on the Temple and calculated the time, it was a pain in the ass, though. And, yes, tomorrow marks the day.

"Lucky for you" he kept talking "that we met a certain mole. He ran a workshop about rings and stuffs, and he was about to leave everything behind to flee with his whole family. He told us to take anything we wanted, then he left using a burrow. Fagus personally picked this for you. You should check it out!"

"Okay!"

I unwrapped the bundle, inside contained four rings with different sizes. They were made from a single material that emitted a soft silver light, all had eight prongs at both ends for a firm hold, and four small thorns ran around the middle part of the rings.

"綺麗いですねー (Kirei i desu nee - They're beautiful)! でもちょっと大きいすぎる (Demo chotto ōkī sugiru – But a bit too big)." I whispered to myself.

"I know what you're thinking! Don't worry, Fagus didn't just make a random choice! These rings can change their size to fit the one who wears them. Here, let me show you how to use them right! The smallest one goes to the tail, these two long ones are bracers, and the biggest one, the choker, goes to the neck."

The neck!? Thinking about Cynder wearing that collar-liked thing, adding a leash and, voilà, no different than a puppy! You really have bad taste for jewelry, Fagus, I had to admit. At least you could pick a headpiece, or a necklace, a pendant, perhaps. Then, I tried to imagine her appearance with this whole set on, and the first thing came to my mind was… "bondage". あ、違う (A, chigau – Ah, it's not that)! 一体何を考えいる、俺は (Ittai nani o kangaeiru, ore wa – What the hell am I even thinking)? Ugh, definitely my personal opinion about culture and stuffs, but it went a little too far, I guess.

"えっと、ありがとうございます (Etto, arigatou gozaimasu – Um, thank you)!" I said with a bow. This gesture was so obvious anyone could understand easily.

"It was nothing! Remember, Hikari, you own us one BIIIIG compensation! Now then, let's go before the dawn arrives! See ya!"

"Safe trip, Leo!"

That concluded our rendezvous. Hurrying back to the cave, my body shook with flutter. I wondered how would Cynder react when she saw these and then put them on. Oh, so exciting!

"Wakey-wakey, Cynder!" I spoke loudly at the cave entrance as I landed "Look what I got you!"

The cave remained silent.

"Cynder? Otō-san here!"

Again, no response.

"おかしい (Okashī – Strange)…" I mumbled, Cynder usually answered to my call.

I entered the cave to see what had happened to her. Maybe she was too sleepy to hear me callin'. I saw that she was still curling herself in the blanket on her straw bed. If calling didn't work, then I would wake her up with my warm embrace. To my surprise, my hand didn't feel like touching her body when I pat her back. I immediately yanked the garment and discovered a strange crystal emitting dark purple sparks. It shone almost instantly after being spotted. The next thing I knew was that I got engulfed within the light. That day, I learned of the Dark Master's true terrifying power, the hard way.

"Brother. Why have you done this to us, to me?" Gaul approached me, his heavy footsteps echoed across the chamber. Ah, how nostalgic, the place where I had been turned into a monster. Gaul's calmness gave me serious goosebumps. I'm not talking about him trying to fake his feeling, but this was more like the calm before a category five hurricane.

"Where is she?" I asked curtly.

"Straight into the topic, aren't you? Why don't you just sit down?" he drew his staff, shot a green lightning current at me.

I was well aware of his intention, so dodging the attack was piece of cake. The current suddenly changed direction and went after me, which caught me by surprise. My body suffered a serious convulsions which rendered me lying on the ground for a second or two. I could feel a distortion from within, and I couldn't be able to use my power.

"Does it feel good, brother? You are the first to have a taste of this new ability of mine, I call it the Elemental Jammer!"

A jammer, I see. Such a nuisance!

"I hate to do this, brother." Gaul slowly walked toward me, "But no criminal would be overlooked, even if they're family members."

He thrusted a punch at my face, only for it to be caught within my palm.

"Have you forgotten, Gaul?" I smirked, "You didn't just give me magic!"

I grabbed and threw him over my shoulder, pressed him against the ground. The fall shook the whole facility, debris and dust built over the time fell down. I tightened the grip around his throat and choked him, but left just enough to let him breathe and talk. It also served as a warning that I could break his neck if he even had any intention of striking back.

"どう (Dō - How's that)? 痛いじゃないか (It hurts, doesn't it)?" I didn't really know why, but taunting my enemy with a language they didn't know was somewhat fun.

"Mother fucker!" cursed Gaul, "He was right! You've found your language! I can't believe we've been fooled for the past four years! Why?"

"How many times do I have to explain this? This carnage leads to nowhere!"

"Yes, it does! To cleanse this world of those filthy arrogant lizards who think highly of themselves! They appeared out of nowhere, laid siege our resources, our lands, slaughtered our kind, forced us to move into places where we had to fight each other over a chunk of food! You can tell by looking at my appearance, brother! I am suffering an epidemic! If it wasn't of our Master's powerful magic, I would've been dead! But those goddamn days are over, we will not sit here watching them sitting on the throne and draining the land of its life! I also pity those fools who followed them blindly. How I yearn to see their faces when they know the truth of the kind they revere."

"何 (Nani)?"

"Our Master's plan is sagacious, instead of wasting our resource to fight them, he makes them fight themselves. To fight fire with fire, what a plan, brother, until you tried to ruin it!"

"I care not of your plan" I tightened my grip a bit "nor your vengeance! If this is your goddamn personal affair, deal with it! Don't involve a creature from a distant planet, AND a youngling, in it!"

"Use everything you have, do whatever you can! All to ensure victory in the end!"

"Enough of this bullshit! It's time I end it for good! Though I know not of your rules, this is the common thing I know: The winner gets to decide the fate of the loser!"

With that being said, I used both hands and squeezed for what it was worth to finish off the tyrant.

"No, you won't!" the voice from the light pillar spoke, at the same time, the chains shot out from it and secured me. "I'm surprised they didn't tell you about it."

"About what?"

"About the past. I believe one of them told you that humans and dragons once coexisted, correct?"

"How did you…?"

"I infiltrated your memory, remember? I got the answer to that, wanna hear it?"

I was kinda surprised, I kept silent and waited for his next move.

"I'll take it as a yes. The reason is still the same, their arrogance kindled a war that spread across the continents. And guess what? Mankind won the war, forcing the dragons to leave Earth realm. But those cunning lizards, they folded their cheap hand: casting a powerful spell that erased all of mankind's memories about them and their magic. In other words, the loser took the prize from the winner!"

Stunned by his words, I let myself become a puppet, allowing the Dark Master to completely tie me up the way he wanted. The chains yanked me up high and suspended me there, while draining me of my strength.

"By the way," chuckled the Dark Master, "I discovered something quite interesting about your past. A grievous wound, still bleeding. I wonder what will happened if I cut deeper into it! Bring her, boys!"

In a dark corner, the clanking of chains resounded. Two medium apes, each holding a leash, dragging a small creature that could barely stand on its feet.

"Cynder!" I cried.

"Otō-san?" she tried her best to speak.

"What have you done to her!?"

"Nothing much," chuckled Gaul, "I just taught her a little discipline. The young must listen to what adult says!"

"I'll tear you apart for this, I swear!" I growled with my teeth clenched.

"Hahaha! Now you're nothing but a cub, all barks, no bites! Hm? What's this?"

Gaul stepped on the box while talking. He picked it up and opened to see what was inside.

"Put it down, Gaul! Get your fucking dirty hands off it!"

"So pretty!" he took one ring from the set, "Let me guess, are these for her? Oh, yes, they are! What thoughtful father!"

Now my blood is really at boiling point. If I ever got down from here, I would definitely tear him limb from limb, even with just these bare hands.

"Hey," Gaul's face became bright as if he had found a treasure, "I've got an idea! My Lord, please bless these rings, imbue them with your eternal power. May those who wear them are also blessed!"

"Very well! Come, then!"

Gaul offered the rings to his master. The purple energy poured out from the eyes in form of snakes, slithering into the box. When the job was done, the silver light of those was replace with a dark halo and purple sparks. They tied Cynder on the altar. The poor weak little dragon couldn't do anything to resist. Gaul took the rings and attached them on her body one by one.

As the first ring locked on her tail, Cynder started groaning in pain. The dark magic quickly covered her. Gaul continued with the two bracer, Cynder whined even louder. I was torn apart from inside as I witness her torment. Gaul took the last piece, the choker, and was ready to put it on her neck.

"Don't do it, Gaul!" I spoke, no, more like begging him.

"This is for freedom, brother!"

"Nooo!"

The final shackle was in place, the set triggered a detonation and a curtain of smoke engulfed her. I could still see her shadow behind, her transformation. Her limbs stretched and grew bigger, the body, the tail, the neck were lengthen, horns grew longer, her eyes turned green – the color of maleficence, her voice became heavier and lower as the modification came closer to its end. A series of crackles accompanied the whole process, making me feel like I was the one whose bones got snapped and twisted instead of her.

And so, my little Cynder grew into a slender adult dragon in not even a minute. No, I could hardly call her a dragon after I saw her face: a long face with lines of hideous, cold-hearted murderer. A demon in an appearance of a dragon. What have they done to her?

She stepped down from the altar, running her eyes across the room. Without a word, she walked straight to the light collar, the Dark Master. She bowed her head and said: "I am your servant, what would you like me to do, master?"

"Take care of the traitor!"

"As you wish!"

The chains loosened, I dropped on the floor as Cynder slowly approached me.

"Cynder! Fight it! This is not you!"

"Treachery must be punished!"

She swung her tail blade with incredible speed, my head would be rolling on the floor if I hadn't been fast enough to duck. She continued by driving the blade on he wing carpal. I tried to dodge, but failed to since I was so exhausted. It ripped my chest, almost to the ribs, and threw me into the wall. The searing pain almost killed me, so hard to breathe.

With everything I had, I stood up, tried to cry out to her, because I believed she, too, was trapped in there just like I once had been: "Cynder, don't you remember me, your otō-san? Fight back! Don't let it control you!"

"A lowly miserable traitor like you dare to speak my name! I don't know who you are, I only have my master! And only him can call me by my name!"

Those last words struck me to core. They meant that I had lost another person whom I loved. First my parents, now Cynder. Why? Why did this keep happening to me? If only that earthquake hadn't existed, I would still have lived happily with my parents. If only the Dark Master hadn't existed, I would have lived with Cynder and helped her.

What have I done was wrong, where have I gone wrong just to deserve this? NO! I've never done anything wrong! It was them who started it! They were responsible for all of this! The very root of this madness! They should disappear, no, they MUST disappear! Give me back my family!

"シンダーを返ぜ (Shindā o kaeze – GIVE CYNDER BACK)!"

Right at that moment when Cynder thrusted the blade at me, my vision suddenly went blur, all of the pains went away like they were never exist. I vaguely remembered her blade was stopped by some kind of invisible force. Then, several waves of shockwave emitted from where I stood, pushing everyone away. What happened next was that a strong energy pervaded my heart and infused every of my cells. The power returned to me, but it was different than before. It was so pure, yet so corrupted. It didn't matter anyway, as long as I could fight, I would make them pay for taking away my precious.

Looking at myself, now covered by a purple aura and a new power surged from the inside like a tsunami, I felt like nothing could stop me. Gaul ordered a large ape to confront me. As soon as it pounced on me, I clenched my left fist and swung outward, intended to push it away, only to realized its internal organs were shot out from its back as the hand's back landed on its chest, leaving its remains dangling on my arm. I should be shocked to know I possess such immense power, and be guilty for taking another life. But those emotion didn't matter, I must take Cynder back from them, even if it meant I had to eliminate anyone, I meant anyone, dared to stand in my way.

I locked sight on the Dark Master and focused energy into my right palm to formed a katana. As a Japanese, the katana was obviously my weapon of choice. More apes were sent in to intercept, but their efforts were pointless. With my skill in kendo, I easily dodged and countered while approaching the mastermind. My blade went through their body like a high-pressure jet of water from the waterjet, but they didn't notice it until they fell and their body split. Purple flame ignited from the cut and consumed the corpses, until there was nothing left.

Gaul jumped into the fray, hurling his twin scimitar. I sliced his proud weapons into pieces, he then switched to his twin-blade gauntlets but the blade ended up suffering the same fate. He shot magic bullets from the scepter, but I deflected them all and destroyed the shiny toy.

I raised my saber to finish him, but Cynder intervened and made me back away.

"邪魔だ、シンダー (Jama da, Shindā – You're in the way, Cynder)! 退け (Doke – Move)!"

Cynder kept forcing her attacks with a storm of blades and claws. I didn't want to hurt her, but she just wouldn't let me near him. I waited for her to overstep, then grabbed her tail and started swinging her around like an athlete putting a shot. Seeing that Gaul didn't want to give up, I threw her at him. Cynder pressed him into the wall, knocked him out. Cynder raised her head and launched a massive fireball, which exploded upon contact. But I wasn't even there, I was right beneath her. A hit to the chin ended the fight, I adjusted the output this time so as not to break her jaw.

The Dark Master shouted out to the other apes to attack, but they stood as if getting their feet buried. Even the muscle brain like them knew what would happen if they interfered. I could see his fear as I came closer and closer.

"Looks like you can't do much." I taunted.

He glared at me, shooting lightning from his eyes. I raised my katana, it absorbed his attack whole. He tied me with his chains, I broke them into smithereens. Oh, he looked so hopeless, such pure expression, never thought he knew the concept of fear! That desperation was so pathetic it made me want to hit him in the face as hard as possible, if he ever had one.

So, I slashed at him with my energy blade. The sword did nothing to the pillar, but the mastermind's twisted expression and cry showed me that he took damage, thus could be killed. I continued slashing him, enjoying each painful cry he uttered. Felt like a symphony! All I had suffered, the burden of guilt within my heart, but more importantly, what he had done to Cynder, right at this moment, I poured them into each and every of my attacks.

When I stopped, his eyes were but vague dots of light, his voice was cracked, so much that no one could hear what he said. This is it! The moment to end this nightmare. Channeling power into the katana to make it bigger and longer, I took the stance of an executioner. I cried with all my might, my mind, and my soul, swung the sword at him: "とどめで (Todome da – Finish)!"

"Master!"

Since when did Cynder wake up? I had no idea. The next thing I knew was she had already stood between the attack and the abomination whom she called "master". I had to halt the strike immediately. The blade was millimeters from her neck, which almost scared the shit out me, but I was glad I made it in time.

In a fight, just a split second of carelessness would cost one his life, and this was the case. A cold, hard object impale my chest, through the heart, at that instant when I thought Cynder was safe from harm.

"そんな…所に…たって (Sonna… tokoro ni… tatte – Why… in such… a place)?" I could only uttered those words. I was stabbed by Cynder's tail blade, a fatal blow. Crap! I was so close! Perhaps, it was my fault for not doing what I was suppose to. But it was too late, death was inevitable. My vision switched between blear and clear, my body started losing sense. Amidst the unconsciousness, I heard Cynder's true voice. She was calling out to me. Was it hallucination? In a heartbeat when my vision became the clearest, I saw my little Cynder, her soul, reflected through the menacing eye of her twisted body. She was crying out to her otō-san, her cheeks suffused with tears.

I couldn't help but reaching my arm at her, whispered with my dying strength: "ごめね、シンダーちゃん (Gomene, Shindā – I'm sorry, Cynder). あなたを…守れなかった (Anata wo… mamorenakatta – I couldn't… protect you)."

The evil Cynder pull the blade out of my chest. I collapsed on my knee, my head hung down. It was then, my memories rushed back, my family, my friends, and Kōmyō. Right, I failed her, too, for not being able to return alive. Thank you, everyone, for always staying by my side, and sorry, for making you worry all the time by being reckless. Soon, the only thing I saw was the never ending night, and my body was getting cold, could feel anything no longer. I kneeled there, motionless. Blood pouring out, creating a small spring head that drenched my lap, dyed the floor in red.

Even in my last brief moment alive, Cynder's voice kept echoing, like a soft reproach for my sins: "お父さん (Otō-san – Father)! お父さぁぁぁんッ!"


	10. Chapter 9

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS**

**Chapter****9****: ****Ancestor**

I was dead, no joke! But, yeah, you guys are probably gonna ask me how could I still be able to write about my journey in Dragon Realms if I were dead. I'm telling you, you're reading a story of a living man. I mean, seriously, this whole story is the greatest spoiler of my resurrection. Alright, let's get back to the flow, shall we?

"これげ…死か (Kore ga… shi ka – Is this… death)?"

Though I couldn't see anything, I felt like I was floating. My body became as light as feather, so light that it seemed if I moved my limb, or a finger, or anything, I couldn't feel or notice I was doing it. Anyway, my life had come to an end, but I still worried for those who remained. What kind of terrible fate awaited them ahead?

"Yes, it is, but it's also not!"

"!?"

Did I just hear someone? There was even hallucination in the realm of the dead? What crazy things do I have to face next? But, this voice sounded… familiar. Could it be the voice from when I had been brought to the spooky chamber? And, even weirder, it understood what I had just said!

While I was monologuing, I saw a tiny light dot in front of me. It started to get bigger and bigger, as if it was approaching me, then I was engulfed in it. So warm…

The light gradually faded, the next thing I knew that I was lying under the starry night sky. "Starry" wasn't quite the word to describe it because, other than stars with different colors there were also galaxies far, far away, nebulas, dashing comets, etc. Such magnificent panorama! The whole universe appeared right in front of my eyes. I had to admit, even the hand of the best artist, digital or traditional, couldn't capture all of its glories into just one drawing. I got up and found something even stranger. The ground had a light shade of blue, and there were ripples when I moved, like the surface of water, except that I didn't get wet at all.

"あれ (A re – Huh)?" I gasped as I looked at my reflection on the ground. The strange surface I was standing on acted like a mirror. The hideous, demonic form I took on during the corruption was no more. I had regained my human form, but something wasn't right. My right eye's iris was purple with a slit pupil. I stared at my own face now have a normal azure human eye and a demonic violet eye. What kind of bad omen would it give me?

Glancing down at my chest, the fatal wound was still there, and there was no blood nor pain. Curious, I spread and looked inside, I saw my heart torn right in the middle. It had stopped beating for quite some times. Even when I died, surprising things just kept coming. I remembered that I wasn't alone, so I raised my voice.

"誰がいる (Dare ga iru – Is anyone here)?"

"Whoa, whoa, don't get hype just because I understand your language, young one!"

It was that voice! I turn around and saw a dragon approaching me. He was majestic, bigger than any dragon I had seen in Warfang. A dragon with mauve scales, golden ram horns, underbelly, claws, and tail fin, pink wing membranes. His head sported a crest created by a line of golden ridges connected by membranes which ran to the end of his neck. His back didn't have any spikes nor thorns. A long white beard grew from his chin and even touched the ground.

He looked at me with his tender eyes, his low voice was warm, sweet and honest, which set my turbulent mind at ease. How long has it been since I last enjoyed such inner peace like this? At least, I didn't have to be alert to him.

"We meet, at last!" he continued "My name is Uber Draconi, a purple dragon as you can see."

He adressed himself as "purple dragon", quite peculiar, wasn't it? Usually, dragons when introducing themself or when adressing others, they used the name of their element, like "fire dragon" or "ice dragon", not their color. But such introduction wasn't quite necessary.

"N-nice to m-meet you! My name i-is Hikari!" I stutterly replied.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hikari! I know you have a lot of questions, but we don't have much time until you wake up. This is the fisrt and maybe our last chance to meet in person, so I want to give you the most important things you need. The rest is up to you to figure out."

Okay, straight into the topic, I like that! But, wait! I was definitely dead, how could it be possible for the dead to "wake up"? While pondering with Uber's words, I was suddenly thrown into some kind of rainbow tunnel. Being unable to orient myself as I was dragged by a mysterious force, I let fate decide what would happen to me next because I was so exhausted with everything I had been through.

Another bright light enveloped me and, when I got my vision back, I found that I was standing on a stone bridge, people passing by, not paying any attention to the bewildered teenager. Houses made of bricks and stones with external timber frames marked the specific vernacular structure of the Middle Ages. Here and there, wooden banners with letters written in flashy romaji. According to my view, looks like I landed in a bustling town in the European region.

I noticed some kids headed my way, having fun chasing each other. A little girl, seemed to be the youngest in the group, suddenly stumbled and fell. I quickly reached out to catch her: "危なない (Abunai – Look out)!"

I swore I made it in time, but she fell THROUGH my hands and laid on the stone-paved ground. I was dumbstruck by what had just happened, but that wasn't all. Someone's shadow appeared from the edge of my vision, and when I glanced at it, it was a dragon about Dash's age. It came and nuzzled the crying girl, offered her a piggyback ride after soothing her.

It was that moment I noticed there were dragons among humans, both lived in harmony. On the sky, they soared through the puffy white clouds, completely carefree. In the town, they walked freely, chatting with their human companions.

"This is paradise, won't you agree?" since when, I didn't know, Uber had been right next to me. "What you're seeing here is a glimpse of the once glorious past we used to live. The golden age of both mankind and dragonkind."

At this point, I knew what I was gonna hear from him: a long lecture of history. Right, Ima go get the pillow. 冗談です (Jōdan desu – Just kidding)! This is a record of what I had been throught, so I'll make it as short and understandable as possible.

"At first, us dragons used to live an isolated life, away from all civilizations. Our population wasn't much, and we even lived in separated tribes. But, we excelled in magic. We harnessed the power of the elements and used it to balance nature. We were the proud keepers of nature and wisdom back then.

"As time flew, we became attracted and curious about a wonderful creature called 'human'. Why? Because they had no magic, yet they could do many great things with just their bare hands. Through observation, we learned that humans could use materials available in nature to benefit their life and innovate it.

"Impressed by mankind's intelligence, we decided to make contact with them. But it was a long and complicated process since they were unexpectedly over-alerted and could behave aggressively if we trespassed their territory. So, we tried a milder way. By offering help to the urban areas where they focused on agriculture, we slowly gained their mutual faith. From step to step, we made our way to their cities. The king himself and the leader of all dragon clans both signed a convention based on coexistence and mutual sharing.

"Thus, a new era was born, an era where humans and dragons lived together, sharing knowledge, magic, and other benefits. Other kingdoms formed their alliance with us. The standard of life was improved, security was enforced. We taught them how to use the elements, but since they originally had no connection with magic and it took millennia for us dragons to get in tune with the elements, we decided to pass our power to them. The fastest way had but a flaw: those whose body incompatible could never receive our power. Therefore born a new race – the Dragonborns. They were humans with strength and power of a dragon. The only thing which distinguished them from the rest was the eyes. Upon receiving the power, one of their eyes or both would become dragon eyes and the iris bore the color of the element bestowed on them.

Dragonborn. Then my eye… Could it be that I… had become a dragonborn? Well, it's meaningless right now. But, no point in disappointing either. Let's just get this over with.

"Everyone lived in peace, thinking that this bliss would never disappeared. But, on one fateful day, a strange dragon egg was laid. Different from all the other eggs, this egg had a purple tone, one that had never been seen. That egg was me. While normal dragons could control and master one element, I could do more than that, mastering many elements as I wanted.

"That alone sowed the seed of doubt in humans' mind. They accused us for keeping such power for our own. Upset, we were, but we didn't want to make a fuss about it. I was given order to pass my power to the dragonborns. Disaster happened when the body of those received my power started to crack and explode as the purple energy surged through them and vanish into the void. I myself knew nothing about this. Still, I knew terrible things would've struck dragonkind if one of them hadn't survived the energy shock. Everyone had a horrifying experience with the incident, but after that, they congratulated the young man and called him the Chosen One.

"His name was Axel Grimoire, a valiant and talented knight of the Royal Army, a handsome teenager with bright eye, macaroon hair, and a warm smile. After his survival, he developed the ability of learning more than one element, just like me, and earned himself a high position within the army. Little did he know, those were not the purple dragon's true elements. We soon grew aware of your kind's lusty and greedy nature. The master chief decided to send me back to our home, where I found certain documents regarding my power and my origin.

"It turned out that I belonged to a rare breed of dragon that is given birth once every ten generations, a dragon with power far surpasses others. Not only this breed can master many elements, but can also be capable of learning abilities that are considered impossible. The purple dragon is believed to play a role in directing the fate of an era, such a heavy responsibility that fits only us. We special ones are sometimes consigned to oblivion due to the lost of information during the period between the milestones we were born into.

Here's the big part: it is said that the purple dragon's power connected with the energy of the universe. It's called Aether, the ancient cosmic element of life, of creation, of anything positive, and the purple dragon's true element. When certain requirements are met, a purple dragon can awaken that power. Don't ask me how I did that, it's been far too long to remember! But when one succeeded, it is said to be invincible!

'_No wonder why the Dark Master wanted to destroy it so desperately in the first place!'_ I thought.

"Ahem, enough with that! Back to our story! Nothing escapes the trial of time, signs of corruption started to show up. A part of the dragonborns slowly forgot their human origin, for what reasons, only gods know. Discrimination, racism spread, threatened the very foundations of our mutual bond. The climax was the war between humans and dragonborns. After the storm had passed, the remaining dragonborns were condemned on an exile despite not doing anything wrong. Oddly enough, Axel was never seen among the exiles. Even worse, the humans blamed us for creating such creature and the aftermath caused by the civil war.

"Disgusted and angered by their action, the dragons unilaterally retreated into hiding, concealing themselves from the world once again. You can say we abandoned human and let them deal with the consequence on their own. But, oh, our Ancestors have mercy on us! That was the gravest mistake we had ever committed.

"Our withdrawal from the alliance violated the convention. The humans later on declared war on us, thus began the bloodiest war ever recorded in history of both kinds."

When Uber spoke about the war, he tapped his claw against the ground. The setting immediately changed. The peaceful town disappeared and we found ourselves standing on a cliff. In front of us was a valley where the battle between mankind and dragonkind took place. Beneath the heavens covered by the dreadful gray clouds were the elemental explosions, battle cries, painful screams and screeches, blood and fire everywhere. All mixed together, creating a chaotic scene beyond my imagination. The humans once walked along side the dragons, now face each other in this living hell. Even the movies about war in my world couldn't compare to the brutality I was witnessing here.

"What you're seeing is 'the Purge'." said Uber, "Before this war started, humans had had time to learn and master magic. What terrified us was that they had slaughtered the remaining dragonborns and had harness the elemental power from their bodies.

"Compared to humans, we exceeded them both in physical and magical strength, but we couldn't deal with their numbers. No matter how many humans we killed, they kept reproducing, creating and endless source of manpower. The tide turned only when all dragons united under my command. Using my heavenly power, I fended off everything humans threw at us. But our hope diminished as we saw a figure rose from human's side."

Following Uber's gaze, I saw something was coming. At one end of the valley, on the horizon, a man stood. No doubt, it was Axel Grimoire, but he had changed so much I almost didn't recognize him at first glance. His golden armor contrasted with the gloomy background, the long sword imbrued with fresh blood that was dripping down from the tip, his long white hair waved in the wind, he had an abnormally bulky body for a teenager, his face had lost most of its human traits, the eyes were that of a predator, sharp, cold, and menacing. They opened wide and pinned on Uber's young self as if he was about to devour him alive. A faint grin added a horrific touch. His left eye was a purple dragon eye, but his right eye glowed in yellow, something similar to the Dark Master. Could there be any connection between them?

"Axel was a sly fox. He used his power to overthrow the royal family and took the throne after the civil war. He was also the culprit behind the dragonborns massacre and stole their power. For unknown reasons, he had learned about his true power and had achieved it. He claimed himself as god and would change the world for the better by ensuring our extinction. His true intention was to exploit this power to rule the world, and he knew we were his biggest obstacle.

"He challenged me over and over again, keeping me occupied while the human army advanced. The dragons was forced to retreat to their homelands, the Himalayas range.

"To avoid the risk of extermination, the only way was to open a space-time gate led to another world. I vaguely remember the ritual in one of the ancient scrolls. The gate needed a sacrifice, and I decided it would be me. Those who could still fight formed the final defense line, using the elements and the weather to halt the assailment while I concentrate on the ritual. The circular gate slowly rose from the ground, at same time, a terrible strain weighed down on my body as I kept the ritual going.

"The activation of a space-time portal marked the completion of our escape route. They fled quickly through the portal, one by one. Axel suddenly showed up from behind and attacked me, intended to stop us from running away. Some dragons voluntarily stayed and helped me hold Axel off, knowing that they would die along when the ritual ended.

"Even when we left, magic would keep on existing. Its disastrous destruction had been shown as it fell into the wrong hands. As long as humans possessed magic, many devastating tragedies would occur in the future. It would be better if they didn't know about it. So, I channeled the last of my power, blasted out a beam straight onto the sky and caused an occult rain that covered the whole Earth, erasing any memories related to magic and dragons of every creature existed.

"My last move interrupted the ritual. The gate closed immediately, and my body cracked, pouring out blood and energy rays as the price of the sacrifice. I died in a massive explosion that engulfed the mountain's peak, wiping out all lifeforms within range."

The setting disappeared when Uber finished his story. Above us, the stars and nebulas shone brightly on the black background of space. Staring blankly at my reflection, I remembered Glaciah's and the Dark Master's words about the dragons. They had lived with human, and had fled for their survival, erasing all traces of their existence.

I found it hard to believe, coz I was completely lost at the moment. Oh, my head was going to explode any time soon should I think about this for an extra second. Please, let this be just a dream, so that when I woke up, I saw Cynder curling up next to me, or I was in my room.

"Deny it all you want, Hikari. History is immutable, no matter how dark it is. I would like you to know that dragonkind dream of mending this relationship, but they're still afraid."

"Why telling this to me, Uber? I'm already dead, there's nothing I can do, NOTHING! It's all hopeless now!"

"I beg to differ, because… I can bring you back to life!"

Though I found this had nothing to make me laugh, and I didn't even have a reason to do it. Somehow, I tried to force a burst of laughter in agony. How presumptuous! Bring me back to life? Him? Nonsense! He was also dead! The dead can't bring the dead back to life! He thought he was a god or something!

"Didn't I say the purple dragon was capable of learning abilities that are considered impossible? If you still don't believe me, have a look!", he tapped the ground, a white circle appeared, "What do you see in the Pool of Vision?"

When I looked into the so called "Pool of Vision", I was so astonished I couldn't move my tongue. What did I see? My body, lying on the floor of a gloomy forest. If it was just that, I didn't need to be so alarmed. What I mentioned was my wound. Uber zoomed in close enough so that I could see my heart inside. It was beating, although it was weak, but it was beating. The slit on my heart was nothing but a pinkish line. I immediately checked my heart, it was BEATING, for real!

I glanced at Uber, half excited like a child watching a magical show, half suspicious. Uber chuckled out loudly at the expression on my face: "See? I did that when I was giving you a history lesson, Hikari, my boy!"

"C-could this be possible?"

"Nothing is impossible for a purple dragon!" staidly said Uber.

I was so grateful I could not say a word, all I could do was to kowtow to him as dignified as possible, tears rolled down my cheeks. Never in my life I had felt so heartened. I could return and save Cynder from _him_, and to settle this war. With all the time I had spent here, there was no reason for me to run away.

"Now, now, Hikari", Uber placed his paw on my back gently, "You can always thank me anytime you want. But right now, I'll give you the basic of knowledge regarding your power."

He waited till I had stood up straight then continued his speech, but with a serious tone: "Unfortunately, you have awakened the dark side of the Aether!"

"What do you mean?"

"There exists an element known as the counterpart of the Aether, called Nether. It's considered as the corrupted Aether, the purest form of destruction, of death, and all things negative. Normal, all purple dragons awake Aether, but Nether shows itself when a purple dragon abandons its true call to follow its selfish ideals. I'm not bluffing, the Nether is now at your disposal."

"そんな…そんなバカな (Sonna… Sonna baka na – No way… It can't be)!"

"Let me ask you, Hikari, what was the feeling you had when you mercilessly killed the apes? You knew that killing them wasn't just about taking their lives, their children became orphans, their wives turned widows. Did you have even the slightest remorse for your actions? No! You were lost in your insanity driven by anger and agony, so much that you transgressed your own codes!"

Uber's words were soft but full of conviction that I felt like they were a noose coiled around my neck, a chain twisted my faint heart and squeezed for all they're worth. I started wheeling, my leg couldn't bare the weight of guilt in my soul. Uber caught me and slowly lead me to sit down.

"That said, though unfortunate, you have a weapon that can counter the effects of the corruption: empathy. The pain, the sorrow of others, you feel them, and they urge you to come and ease their suffering. Actually, it wasn't your fault or your violent nature entirely. You received Nether directly from the Dark Master, but the conditions weren't met, so it laid dormant inside you until now."

"Hold on, you said only the purple dragons could wield either one of these powers. Then…"

"Yes, the Dark Master IS a purple dragon, and Malefor… is his name."

"な、何だって (Na-nandatte – W-what the fuck)?"


	11. Chapter 10

**THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS**

**Chapter 10: Malefor**

I was totally petrified on the spot. I really hoped that my ears were just messing with me. A purple dragon that was the master of the Apes, the dragons' nemesis. This… this is literally genocide! How could he be so callous as to put his own kind on sword by the hands of the apes? I glanced at Uber, hoping he would tell me the reason.

Seeming to understand my "explain-this-to-me" look, Uber gladly responded… by giving me another history course, "If you want to know, I will tell you more." he pointed his claw at the Pool of Vision.

I grudgingly looked into the pool as he narrated. Seriously, Uber, why? At least you could let us just exchange dialogues, don't monologue like that! 全く (Mattaku – Geez)!

"Ahem! The dragon arrived at a small valley of a planet, which was later known as Exilia. The planet's ecosystem was similar to Earth, excluding human. Little did they know, this planet was also at war with the Apes. With their overpopulation, they invaded other lands, pillaging any resources in sight, capturing and forcing other inhabitants to serve them. They were savage beasts with great physical power, and they became bigger as they aged, which made them one of the strongest creatures on that planet.

"Unaware of the ongoing war, the dragons quickly settled down in the valley. They wanted to live in peace, away from any disturbance of the world outside. Learning that the vale was mostly cover by high craggy mountains, on one side was a lush forest, they knew what to do. With remaining power, they created a barrier of mist covering the whole forest. On the peaks of the mountains, they casted wind spell that constantly blew downward, preventing any intention of crossing them."

"待って、あの場所は (Matte, ano basho wa – Wait, that place is)…" eyes wide opened, I stared into the image of the vale. There was no mistaking it, that was the place where I had stayed and had raised Cynder for a whole year long.

"Recognized it, didn't you? Indeed, it was the place. I'm surprised at how you managed to find it. I'll tell you about that later, let's continue. The dragons lived in their concealed arcadia until the day when a family of moles dug their way into the valley. Once again, the dragons grew curious about the outside of their private world. They sent some volunteers to go with the moles, but only one returned alive, suffered many injuries.

"At such rate, the elders held an emergency meeting. Both agreed that they had to bring the war on this planet to an end, for they would sooner or later fall victim to it. Having experienced the harsh reality on Earthrealms and with the new information about the native inhabitants, they decided to prioritize uniting all the species who were against the apes.

"The moles were the first to welcome them as their saviors. Despite being small and having poor vision, they excelled in engineering and smithery, somewhat similar to human. With the combination of their battle prowess and the moles' machines, the newly formed league gained absolute victory against the apes, who relied solely on physical power and numbers. Together, they pressed the attack, forcing the apes to retreat, liberated many of their colonized land and earned the trust of many other species. And together, they declared themselves 'the Alliance'.

"With their solidarity and united efforts, the Alliance was victorious, the apes surrendered unconditionally. The ape king made a promise not to invade others' habitats, he also wished to help compensate for the damages from the war."

I had no idea why, but hearing this gave me the First World War vibes. Most of the story's details matched that war. Maybe it was also my imagination. To ignite a war, all it took was a lame reason. Then all those who opposed the war stood up together and put it to a stop, at a great price.

"With the reign of peace, the age of healing began. They divided the territories, then started their new life in harmony. The dragons usually looked back to the days when both them and humans had lived together. The story passed down for generations to come, to remind them about their past mistake and to help them maintain what they had earned in this new world. That said, the dragons didn't share their knowlegde of the elements, instead, they offered cooperation and assistance. That helped settle the power problem.

"Speaking of Warfang, the only dragon city on Exilia, it was a gift from the moles to honor their friendship with the dragons. It was built by the joint efforts of the dragons' elemental power and the moles' technology. Warfang was a symbol of peace and solidarity between all species.

"Admist the joy, one day, the news of the appearance of a purple egg was announced.

Uber showed me a footage of a dragon family. The couple was lying next to their special egg, which was place in a comfy nest. I used the knowledge about their gender and instantly told them apart. The male was an earth dragon with its specific mossy green scales and brownish underbelly, horns, wing membranes. He had lost a major part of his right wing in the heat of the new battle, so he wrapped the other wing on the back of the female, holding her close to him. The female had gray scale, ebony underbelly, and pearl horns, wing membranes. Happiness sparkled on their face as they gazed at their beloved child. In case you wonder, the female dragon is a wind dragon, something I know later on.

"This wonderful news was the only thing the dragons shared with everyone and they stated that a better future was coming to all of them. When the time came, they sent their egg to the Dragon Temple, where all the eggs were kept under the custody of the Guardian dragons.

"When the Year of the Dragons came, a time that occurred once every twelves years. A most important event of us where we welcome the new younglings into our world. The eggs would gradually hatched within that year alone. We celebrated that year in a greater scale than any-Hurg!"

"Uber-sama", realizing he was too deep into the proud dragon culture of his, I gave him a serious elbow thrust into his flank as I was sitting next to him, "you're going off the track! You even mentioned we didn't have much time!"

At this point, when I used the suffix "-sama", it meant I respected him a lot because of what he had done for me. But then, I was short-fused, and my worry for Cynder just worsened my temper. That action was disrespectful and ignorant enough, I admitted. Could have just cut in and asked him to stop. Still, that way was the fastest way to get back to the topic, and also served as a warning.

"Ah, a-alright…" Uber stuttered in pain, and obviously lost a bit mood "W-where were we?"

"Let's just say we skip his childhood and head straight into his downfall!"

"Got it! Ahem, before his corruption, he was named Speros, the first purple dragon ever born in Exilia. The Guardians directly educated him, and was astonished by his abilities despite what they had known about us special breed. He was praised by many and granted many preferences. After having awakened Aether and had used it to aid benefited everyone's life, his reputation was further enhanced.

The Pool showed the image of the purple dragon I was looking for. Once again, I was in shock. It was because I had ran into this particular dragon. Yes, I'm talking about his majestic statue in the Temple's main hall. Well, in the previous chapters, I hadn't mentioned anything about him since I focus mainly on Cynder. I'll take this chance to show my PoV about this Speros guy, or Malefor.

Overall, the color of his scales, horns, wings, etc. was identical to the young image of Uber-sama. There were some differences her and there. First up was the horns, he had five, two main big curved ones grew from the side of his head and pointed backward while the three smaller ones grew from his forehead. The way these horns arranged made me associate it with a crown, and it looked just like one. He also had a single ridge of smaller horns ran from his back to the tip of his tail and ended with a triangular spade fin.

"He was a courageous and caring dragon who would be ready to seek to help others in need, a benevolent and heroic figure loved by all. The Guardians taught him everything they knew, and he excelled even further. They believed that he would become a shinning new hope for dragon kind, as 'spero' means 'hope'.

"As time flew, he started to feel that all he had wasn't enough. He wanted to become stronger, to learn more about the full extent of his power. He began isolating himself in the chambers of Warfang's great library, digesting any knowledge he ran across, even the forbidden arts.

"He became conceited, over-confident and started acting like a tyrant. The pinnacle of his notoriety was that he executed a dragon for arguing with him. Asshamed to have such a horrible disciple and afraid of his lust that exceeded beyond control, the Elders and the Guardians condemned him to eternally expelled from the society. And once again, we repeated ourselves the horrible mistake in the past that is now leading dragonkind to their doom.

"Feeling outraged for being taken away what he thought he deserved to have, he awakened Nether and swore to have revenge. His grudge and detestation for his own kind was so great it twisted his appearance, his scales turned magenta, as if they were dyed in blood. He was also the first to awakened the element know as Soul, a spiritual element that allows one to manipulate others' soul, even his own, and to communicate with the spiritual world.

"For some mysterious reasons, he gained full command over Nether. The twisted dark side effect caused him to believe that the true call of the purple dragons was to create a new world – this part is still true, but by destroying the old one. He threw his name away and proclaimed himself as Malefor. That marked the moment he truly abandoned his true calling for good.

"With his skill in rhetoric, he easily seduced Gaul into working for him, promising him power and a place in his new world. He created a fortress on a mountain where he trained his army of ape how to harness to power from the spirit gems, which only the dragons and their descendants could be able to use. His malicious essence was so strong it cracked the earth, forming a pit of despair, called the Mountain of Malefor – where you were brought to. And thus, Malefor brought forth the age of chaos.

"The impact he left in his wake has greatly destroyed the peaceful reputation of dragonkind. His family eventually became a sandbag for the insults and curses from the outsider. His mother couldn't handle the stress. She suffered from depression and ended her life by throwing herself down a seaside cliff to the sharp pointy reefs below, and her body was nowhere to be found. Losing both the pride and the family, his father turned psychotic and later on died in his grief.

"The Guardians regretted letting him go, they took full responsibility by battling Malefor above his fortress. The Guardians were dragons who greatly excelled in their own respective element, but their victory was not without casualties. Most of the Guardians were slain, only four pillars remained: fire, electricity, ice, earth. The Fire Guardian, Ignitus – with the help of the other three – dealt the final blow, destroying Malefor and imprisoned his soul in his very own fortress.

"That's the tragedy of a dragon once known as 'the great protector of an age'. But Malefor was very cunning, just like Axel. He had extracted his Nether essence and had sent it to the Dark Realms – where it would be preserved til' the time he needed it back – before his body was destroyed. With his Soul element, Malefor could still communicate and command the Apes to continue to carry out his plans through that light pillar, his prison. He could've been sent to Dark Realms forever had you not failed to destroy his cell."

Oof! But again, true. Even now, I still hate myself for not finishing him when I got the fucking chance.

"Then, what was his plan?" I asked, "Why involve a human in this mess?"

"Human is a creature with incredible rate of adaptability, which results in the modification of the body when receiving the dragon's power. Malefor wanted a human puppet in his army by manipulating one, after having learned about your kind, of course. The summoning ritual he use was the one I had performed to save my kind, but with a bit change, making the gate literally 'capture' the designated target."

"And he chose me!"

"By chance, my boy. He just picked randomly and all."

"And I brought him a whole lot of sabotages…"

"And you did quite well! Malefor needed a dragon born in the Year of the Dragons to help him claim his power back, any would do. He asked Gaul for the job, and he picked Cynder's egg, randomly… When you carried Cynder away, you took away Malefor's only chance of resurrection. You were constantly persued by his army because he had left a mark on your soul the moment he corrupted you."

"No wonder…"

"But you had the bless of the Ancestors when you found the valley. Its protection spell is strong enough to cover you from his soul navigation ability."

"And I made a mistake of exiting the valley too frequently."

"Sadly, true. For now, you are the only human he summoned. With his current condiction, I doubt he can perform another one. And now, we should be more worried about _her_."

"What will happen to her?" Oh, please tell me quick! I'd been waiting for this moment for eternity!

"Unlike you, Cynder is still young, she doesn't have the will strong enough to resist or fight back the tremendous power of a purple dragon like you did. Right now, her body moves on its own, controlled by a foreign will while her soul trapped inside. Up till now, she has been soaring the sky laying waste to the entire continents, killing any dragon or those who defy her master in sight. Therefore, an infamous title was given to her: the Terror of the Sky.

"The dragons and their allies can do nothing to stop her. The bond that Malefor casted on her is abnormally phenomenal, all the injuries she takes heal at an incredible rate, and she never has the need to use spirit gem to replenish energy. She's a cold-blooded killing machine who cares about nothing other than her Master's return. And the worst thing about it is, when Malefor successfully returns from his death, her soul will be banished, her body belongs to something of use to him. No one will ever remember anything about her true self."

I seriously had goosebumps all over when I heard the terrible fate that was about to bestow upon my daughter, my only family in this world. As if I would let such a thing happen!

"Is there any way to stop it?"

"There is, my boy. You must find the purple dragon. He can help you."

"何言ってたの (Nani itteta no – What did you say)? もしかして (Moshikashite – Could it, by any chance)?"

"All of those who attended that raid believed that the egg has gone for sure, but no. The current brought it to a distant swamp, where the hatchling is being raised by a family of dragonflies. With the newfound power, you can sense his existence and navigate him. Speaking of which, I forgot to instruct you about your power! Ahem… With you having awaken the primary element of the universe, you have officially become the second Chosen One."

"Why the Chosen One, Uber-sama?"

"Because this power now belongs to you and to you only. No other human or dragonborn can possess what you have. So, consider this as an honor, my boy", he chuckled

"はい (Hai – Yes)…" I didn't have any excitement with this but, oh well…

"Now then, the elements originates from either Aether or Nether, usually most of the elements from the dragons in Warfang are from Aether. Cynder, as a shadow dragon, has her element originates from Nether, which might be another factor that empowers Malefor's corruption over her. Your element, Gravity, is also from Nether as you has unleashed its devastating power. With the awakening, you were gifted with some of these bizarre elements: Sound and Metal. I've never seen any elements like these before, so I can't be of any help to you, Hikari. I guess you'll have to figure them out on your own."

"It's okay, Uber-sama. I think I know how to put them to good use!"

"That's a relief! Hmm, your healing is almost completed. Your soul will return to your body soon. Do you have anything to ask?"

"Oh, yeah!" I snapped my fingers, then showed him the mark of a circle with a crescent embracing a star inside on the back of my right hand, "Does this somehow relate to Malefor?"

"Let me see…" Uber-sama squinted his eye and lower his head to check, "No, I don't see any connection with Malefor. It's a riddle from the ancestors to help you further understand yourself, and may also be the key to your true power."

"I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"Just so you know, you unconsciously awoke the Nether in your rage, so you haven't truly gained full control over it yet. Malefor may no longer be under the dark influence of Nether since he still has his consciousness. But choosing to follow the twisted calling of darkness shows that he's still, at some point, its slave. By solving the riddle, there is a high chance you'll find the way to completely master this dreadful power. Beware, my boy, as Nether can take control over you when you're prone to expose your negative emotions, especially rage. My advice that you should not use Nether for the time being. If forced to use it, keep yourself calm at all cost or it will consume you."

"Understood!"

"Good! Now, it's about time to say goodbye", Uber-sama reached his foreleg to the front, a circle of light appeared about six steps from behind me. My gateway back to the world of the living.

"ありがとうございます、ユーバーさま (Arigatou gozaimasu, Yuubaa sama – Thank you for everything, Uber-sama)!"

I turned around and quickly sprinted toward the gate. Before I could throw myself into the light of the gate, a loud crack came from my right. Turning my head to see what was going on. I saw a spiderweb crack, but there was nothing there, the crack just appeared out of thin air. Then, with a broken glass sound, the crack opened another gateway. I immediately recognized the room with sky blue paint, the pink desk next to the window. Harumi's room. Why was it here?

I heard the door creaked, then a clack. A few seconds later, Harumi came into vision. It was dark and was heavily raining outside, I could see the sadness on her face as she slowly sat on her bed. Suddenly, a thunderbolt reaped across the black sky, the lights in the room started to wink, then a sound of a small object fell to the ground resounded in the room. Harumi was afraid a bit, but the lights returned to normal in an zephyr. She let out a gasp and ran to her desk. The object she picked up was the portrait of us two. The wooden frame was okay but the glass was broken.

While cleaning, she carelessly cut her finger. A drop of blood fell on the picture, right on the chest of my young image. I suddenly reacted in a weird way, quickly place my hand of the wound. It was because her blood drop fell on the same spot where my wound was, and it even drew a red line which identically represented my actual wound. Harumi cover her face in horror, she kneeled down, trying to hold back the tears forming in the edges of her eyes, calling my name in her sobs.

I swear that my heart almost stopped beating when I witnessed such scene. My poor Harumi, I had made her suffer.

"Looks like the gate responds to your deepest desire", Uber-sama stepped up to me, "Perhaps, your wish to return to your world is so strong it causes a distortion. Maybe, I can help you with…"

"もういい (Mou ii – That's enough)! そ、そんなことを言うなよ (So, sonna koto wo iu na yo – D-don't say such a thing)!"

"Huh?"

"Uber-sama, I really appreciate your help, but I can't afford to lose my family again! This is my own decision, so, please don't decourage me like that!" I said as if I was shouting at him.

Uber-sama was right, deep within me, a fight was taking place. My heart thirsted to return to my world and reunite with my family. It also longed to see the smile on Kōmyō's face again, to be able to console her, to tell her: "大丈夫、僕はここにいる (Daijoubu, boku wa kokoni iru – It's okay, I'm here). But the timer was counting down to Cynder's demise. I had promise her to be with her and to protect her, cuz she was also a part of me. What comes will come! This second chance, I won't let it slip away!

"Very well, Hikari. In case you might worry, the flows of time in Exilia and Earth are different. A year in Exilia equals approximately three months on Earth. Also, dragonborn's life span is similar to the dragons, that means your aging has been slow down as well. Now, hurry! Time waits for no-one!"

"分かった (Wakatta – Got it)! デワ、言ってきます (Dewa, ittekimasu – Well then, I'm going)!"

I nodded goodbye then launched into the gate and found that I was freefalling, straight from the heaven back to earth. During my flight, I heard Uber-sama's whisper, which surprised me a bit. Here's what he said: "Hikari, I'm sorry for lying to you earlier. You were right, there are things impossible even for a purple dragon. Bringing the dead back to life gravely violates nature's rule, Aether's rule. It was thanks to the grace of our Ancestors that you escaped the clutches of death and was able to meet me. All I could do was do calm you down so as to help you prepare youself to face the oncoming difficulties. I wish you best of luck, _the Light that guides light_."

May the Ancestors look after you, may they look after us all.


	12. Epilogue

THE LEGEND OF SPYRO – VENTURE TO DRAGON REALMS

Epilogue: Arise Anew

"ああ、この惑星の夜空はすごく美しいな (Ā, kono wakusei no yozora wa sugoku utsukushī na – Ah, the night sky on this planet is so beautiful)!"

Lying on the grass in an open area and contemplating the sky at night, I couldn't help but admiring its beauty. The two full moons bathed me in their gentle light, the twinkling stars were playing hide-and-seek with the clouds. This peaceful, tranquil panorama was completely contrary to the noisy, bloody war out there.

I know, I must not be lying here so comfortably while the fate of others is being hung by a thread. My body just recovered from a fatal injury so it needed more rest. Thanks to Sound, an element I had achieved, I could hear the beat of my heart. Though it had completely recovered, its rhythm was not very stable, and the pain didn't seem to die down any time soon. I didn't want it to pop like a balloon while trying to save my little daughter.

As natural as it could be, I reached my hand to check the wound again. This time, I felt something slightly pointy pressed against my fingers. I thrusted my hand beneath the clothes and pulled out some shards. Under the moonlight, I saw that they were small crystal shards with a dull red color. Why were these stuck between my chest and the robe?

Hold on, I felt some magic left in them, I could tell even it was weak. It was healing magic. Spirit gems? Then, when had I put it there? I vaguely remembered the last time I met Leo. Oh yeah, it was that moment I had received some Spirit gems along with the jewelry set. I gradually figured out what happened next.

It turned out that I had put the gems underneath the clothes just right in front of my heart. When Cynder had stabbed me, she'd broke the gems, and the magic immediately took effect. Still, due to the shock and the loss of blood, my body had been forced to shutdown. I had been in this state called clinical death for how long, I didn't know. But all I could guess was they had thrown my body into this forest, hoping that some creatures would come and clean it up, or at least just let it perish here. Little did they know I was still alive.

That moment, I understood why Uber-sama had called my narrow escape from death the blessing of the Ancestors. I had to say, this wasn't any ordinary coincidence at all. To be honest, even when I said that it was just a clinical death, I still had goosebumps thinking that I had traveled to the realms of the dead, had met and had talked to the deceased for real. Those experiences were so true I didn't even dare to call them dreams. The Death's cold scythe had been so close to my neck.

In any case, this area didn't seem to have predators or corpse eaters. I could take an easy rest for now, not forgetting to use sonar and supersonic waves to scout for lurking threats.

I hadn't told anyone about this yet, had I? Thanks to my habit of reading science books, I had the knowledges I needed when it came to using these elements. Knowledge is power, gotta memorize!

In case you wonder, I didn't let a single second fly into waste. I constantly thought of a plan to search for the surviving purple dragon before Cynder did. But I had to map it out carefully. Here was what I thought: My top priority had to be the purple dragon. Why? It had Aether, the only element that could go head to head against its counterpart. If I could help it awake that, then rescuing Cynder was piece of cake. It was only the matter of time before she released Malefor's essence. Hope that I could get back to shape in the morning.

Oh, I needed a weapon as well. What if I ran out of energy in the middle of a fight and became unable to use my elements. Yup, I don't want to imagine myself being in the worst-case scenario here. Where could I find a weapon with an out-of-this-world durability, one that could withstand the physical force of a dragon according to the standards of the first Chosen One? It seemed to be impossible in such time.

"I beg to differ, Hikari."

Oh no, not again! Whose voice was it this time? Please tell me I'm just being paranoid, because I'm about to have paranoia!

"If you want to see me", the voice continued, "then close your eyes, empty your mind, and step into the world inside you."

The world inside… me. Was it just like the time when I had been imprisoned, spiritually? If it was something inside me, I could take care of it, no problem! I followed the voice's instruction and found myself standing in a pitch-black area just like before. And in front of me, a blue will-o'-the-wisp appeared just within the furthest reach of my arm. A spirit? I sensed no hostility towards me, at the same time, I wondered why and what was it doing here in my body.

"You don't seem to remember me, I assume?" asked the floating fire.

"I only remember cutting a guy in half for daring to take over the control of my body."

"That was me… You're surprised?"

"Kind of. And I thought I kicked you out. How the hell are you still here!?"

"I thought so, too, after you attacked me. The truth was I ended up in a deep part of your body, where I regained my spiritual power, my memories, and learned about you as well."

"Then, who are you?"

"I don't know."

"何 (Nani)!? You don't know?"

"It may sound ridiculous, but I have long forgotten who I am, how I died, and how long had I been traveling the land, purposeless, until I met HIM, who formed a pact with me and forced me to work for him."

"Malefor!"

"Yes, Malefor. Your attack severed me from the collar he put on my neck. I doubt he still has need of me knowing that I have failed him."

"Then, what are you gonna do? You've lost you identity, you're no one but a wandering soul."

"I want to offer you my help" he said after a brief moment, "Despite not knowing much about my past, I am a spirit, and I can do what I like. I have a more-than-just-good memory, and I've memorized his soul binding spell. With you, I can find a purpose to continue to exist. In my belief, sinful souls are condemned either in hell or to forever wander the land, constantly tortured in their solitude and grief. Perhaps, I had committed something terrible in my life that led me to suffer this fate. Now that I have met you here, you can free me from my torment and I can start a new life in repentance for my sinful past. You won't reject this poor soul's simple wish, will you, Hikari?"

His words touched my heart. There was no reason for me to reject a right and just wish of a sinner who wished to atone for his faulty past. But what he had said about binding himself to me made me have to reconsider. Was this the only option he had? What if he still had the intention of hijacking my body again? I felt honesty in his words, but I wasn't too naive to accept immediately.

Seeing that I was confused with the proposal, he continued: "Recently, you mentioned that you needed a weapon, correct? Then, with this pact, I can become one. You can use me as you wish, and I can support you in certain aspects only a spirit can handle. How does that sound?"

"You mean a soul weapon?"

"Exactly! A weapon that can damage mortal flesh and spirit alike, one that can withstand your overwhelming physical power, and one that can never break as long as your will remains strong."

The sun was about to rise, the light was spreading over the horizon. Time was running out, more lives were endangered as each second went by. I only had one chance, and after having considered every possible outcomes and solutions, I deemed that it was something I can hardly let it slide. Time to lay the bet.

"Deal! I'll grant you your freedom! Lend me your strength!"

"You're my salvation, Hikari. Let us now form a pact. First, we need just a small amount of your essence, then I'll proceed with the chanting."

"Look, Nether is the essence of destruction, how will it work?"

"Malefor did it nonetheless."

"True…" I lowered the voice, "But, wait! If you're the one chanting, then I…"

"Worry not, my soon-to-be master. The chant is but a trigger, the essence you cast upon me is what decides who's the boss. Now, please cover me with your power."

Though reluctant, I channeled Nether in my palm and sent it at him. An astral circle appeared beneath him, chains rising up like snakes, spiraling around the dim will-o'-the-wisp.

"Excellent, now it's my turn!

"I am thou, thou art I. (あれ、ペルソナ – A re, Perusona – Huh, Persona!?)

"Thou who embraces despair and agony as thy precious pillaged by the malicious.

"Vow to me, my name thou shall say.

"Grab the blade that cut through all thine obstacles. To protect, to destroy, thy hands will decide thine own destiny."

As he was chanting, I felt the burning pain in my chest, as if a storm was swelling inside. The irises shrunk, the head ached, ears rang. I found my legs becoming so feeble they could collapse at any moment. All these pains and sufferings, I accepted them all for the sake of my lil' Cynder!

When the chant was finished, my chest bursted open with light, from it sprung another chain that found its way to the spirit and connected it with me. The moment we were linked together, I felt his emotion, his thoughts, and especially his regrets. Though I didn't know what were the sources to all those feelings, they urged me to finish what we had started.

I reached out and grabbed the flickering soul within my palm: "分かった (Wakatta – I hear you)! 来い、村正 (Koi, Muramasa – Come, Muramasa)!"

A loud bang took place, the blue fire burned fiercely it swallowed my hand whole, but I didn't feel the heat. The flame then took form, it grew longer, becoming a stick of fire. The flame then died out and it was a katana I was holding. The blade with the cutting edge and hamon in metallic purple and the semigloss black back. The habaki (ferrule), tsuba (hand guard), and the dragon head kashira (hilt's pommel) were made of gold. Purple fuchi wrapped around the hilt. Strangely enough, the tsuba also bore the exact patterns and shape on my right hand.

I didn't have time to inspect it closely, everything became blur in an instant. I opened my eyes, phew, back to reality again. Hope that this was the last time I had to hear voices.

"おめでとうございます、マスター (Omedetou gozaimasu, masutā – Congratulations, master)!"

"村正 (Muramasa)…"

I still held Muramasa in my grip as I stood on spot where had been lying. The bright yellow ball of light had already lifted itself above the horizon, but its glorious rays seemed to be duller than usual. Looking at Muramasa, despite being a soul weapon, my mortal sense could still be able to feel him, the coolness and sharpness of the metal blade, the softness of the fuchi, the incredibly light weight of the whole katana. It was like he had his own materialized body.

"どうした、試したいなのか (Doushita, tameshi tai nano ka - What's wrong, don't you want to give it a try)?"

Testing out my new power, huh? Of course, I want to! I looked around for something big and hard. A large boulder leaning against a big tree seemed to be a potential experimental object. I took a battle stand, the sword tip was just millimeters away from the boulder's cool surface still drenched with night dews. Raising the katana, I took a deep breath, focused for a downward stroke. With a loud kiai, I stepped one firm step forward and landed the strike. The blade screeched as it cut through the air and into the boulder, splitting it in haft easily like a knife cutting through a piece of butter. The impact was so strong it split the tree behind in haft as well and uprooted the two parts, making them fell in opposite direction. About Muramasa, he remained unscathed, not even a single chip could be seen on the edge.

"すべて準備が整った、我がマスター (Subete junbi ga totonotta, wa ga masutā – Everything is ready, my master)."

"そろそろいくか (Soro soro iku ka – I better get going)…"

As a habit, my left hand found its way to the waist to grab the scabbard. But I realized something, I didn't see any scabbard when Muramasa transformed himself into the katana, yet a scabbard had been hanging on my waist without me noticing it. A shiny black scabbard, on both sides were two symmetrical low-relievo golden asian dragon. Their heads with the mouths opened were near the scabbard mouth, their wavy bodies ran along the sheath's length and ended with the flame-like tail fin. I sheathed Muramasa, then started moving right away.

A new day began, but heavy tension filled the air, even the highly active critters wouldn't dare to step out of their nests or burrows, the trees stopped swaying their branches. Silence and fear reigned the continents as the Terror of the Sky – Cynder's notorious title – roamed about the sky.

On the way, I emitted a thin aura of Nether to track down even the vaguest signal of Aether. As long the dragon lived, it's dormant Aether could still react to its counterpart. I had a feeling that if I could use my power to trace the purple dragon, Malefor could do the same through my daughter. The signal indicated that the dragon was northwest from where I was. Quickly channeling Gravity, I launched onto the sky and headed to the destination. The race against time officially began, the winner was the quickest to reach the newborn.

"もう少して待ってくれ、晴美ちゃん (Mou sukoshite mattekure, Harumi-chan – Please wait for me a little longer, Harumi). 君のそばに返るよ、約束 (Kimi no soba ni kaeru yo, yakusoku – I'll come back to you, promise)!

"しっかりして、しんだーちゃん (Shikkarishite, Shindā-chan – Hang in there, Cynder)! お父さんは今すぐに来ます (Otō-san wa ima sugu ni kimasu – Daddy is coming for you right now)!"

Author's note: Thank you, everyone, for spending your time reading my story. As the first story, I may have some logical and grammatical errors and such. Please pardon me for such nuisance. And, this is it, the end of my first book. The sequel is underway as well as some changes to this book since it has too much plot holes :P (I decided to change Hikari's girlfriend's name and updated the Prologue, more updates coming soon). I hope y'all enjoy it. Sincerely.


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